


Tightrope

by Cactus94



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Anal Sex, Angst, Anxiety, Depression, Flashbacks, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Panic Attacks, Past Child Abuse, Past Torture, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, References to Drugs, Rough Sex, Sex, Suicide Attempt, Torture, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2020-04-23 10:40:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 24,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19149373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cactus94/pseuds/Cactus94
Summary: Six years after the Great Battle at Hogwarts everybody has somehow sort their life together. Draco and Harry are in a stable relationship and live together, co-parenting Teddy with Andromeda. They are in love and everyday they make great effort to find new ways of living after everything they went through.But one day something happens. Something big. Something related to Harry's past.Maybe there is also a new threat to deal with.





	1. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

 

All of a sadden, it’s a real tantrum. It was just a casual Wednesday until that morning, almost boring - all employees were thinking about going home earlier - when a secretary came in the Department of Law Enforcement and the Aurors Department shouting there is a big problem, something no one has ever seen before.  
Hermione rolls her eyes but follows the secretary down to the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes - she doesn’t know why as she is responsible of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures - and finds there a bunch of Aurors and some Unspeakables running around with worried and nervous looks.  
She sees Ron still in his Auror’s robes standing aside and approaches him, curiosity and confusion on her face.  
“What’s going on?” she asks.  
“I dunno. They just called all the Aurors down here but I don’t know why. They don’t allow me to see”.  
“So all the mess is down there”, she says looking to a room from where she could see Aurors and other people rushing in and out. There were also a couple of Healers. So there must be something really big happening there.  
“Yes, I heard someone talking of dead people coming back”.  
Hermione freezes, just a bit, but she freezes. What does that even mean?  
“They called you too?” Ron asks finally turning to look at her.  
“Yes. Miles told me to come here. I was hoping to go home earlier”.  
“My shift ended an hour ago”.  
Eventually, the Head of the Aurors, accompanied by a Healer, approaches them. Nothing can be guessed from his expression but that is normal for a man like Lyme Mendez, he is expressionless. Hermione worries that something terribile might have happened to Harry; he’s been on a mission for three days now and they haven’t heard from him since. It would be something so typical from him, ending in a mess like that. But no, it is not about Harry.  
“Something came up a couple of hours ago”, Lyme starts to talk. “Something… we could call a miracle or… terrifying. It depends on how it develops”.  
If Ron and Hermione have been curious and a bit amused by all of that until a second ago, now they are definitely worried and maybe also scared. What is all that mystery about?  
“Some people came back”, the Healer continues, hesitating. “Some people who shouldn’t be… well, here… ‘Cause they are dead. Well, they have been, until now”.  
Yes, that is definitely weird and crazy and terrifying and… also a miracle. But still Ron and Hermione can’t tell why it’s them who have been asked to come over. Unless…  
“We’ve been checking on them”, the Healer goes on. “And apparently they don’t have anything out of normal… Well, if we can call coming back from the dead normal. But they are not Inferi or under a Polyjuice or a spell. They remember everything about their lives, even the moment they died. We asked them some personal questions and they answered right. The only thing is… well, they don’t know what happened since… well, since they died. So…”. The Healer shrugs; he seems in pain, emotionally in pain.  
Ron’s confused expression grows bigger. Hermione starts to understand, she just hopes not to be wrong. She has some idea of who might have come back from the dead. The Auror and the Healer mentioned a _they_ so there are more than one persone, but… No, that would be…  
“Who are these people?” Ron asks impatiently interrupting his girlfriend’s stream of consciousness.  
“Come and see by yourself”, Lyme says. Even for him it is easier to show than to tell.  
  
When they finally make to the room and see these famous people that came back from the dead… Well, Hermione probably would have wanted to scream but her voice betrays her so the only thing she can do is bringing both her hands on her mouth, her eyes wide open in shock. Ron has more or less the same reaction. “Bloody hell!”   
In front of them there are no one else than Sirius Black, their former professor of DADA, Remus Lupin, his wife Nymphadora Tonks and two other people who they have never seen before, but from their looks it is easy to say who they could be. The dark and unruled hair of the man who resembles a lot like their best friend Harry, and the green eyes of the red-haired woman - they have seen them in some pictures - can only be… Well, James and Lily Potter.  
The first one who decides to take the initiative - as neither Ron nor Hermione seem to be capable of doing or saying anything - is Remus.  
“Ron, Hermione! It’s nice to see friendly faces”.  
“Professor Lupin”, she exhales, quietly. She is still in shock, she can’t decide if it’s real or a dream. But then she does the only thing that seems to be appropriate in that situation: she hugs Remus and everything becomes incredibly real; his warm body, his comforting hands on her back, his fresh smell - how come a dead person could smell so good?  
They separate after a while. Then Hermione turns to Tonks who is smiling to her like a good old friend. She still has that bubble gum pink hair.  
The last person she hugs is Sirius and that is even more… emotional. Like in a painful way of emotional.   
“You cut your hair”, the man says softly, looking at her face. She cut her hair a couple of years ago so they touch her shoulders now and were not messy as they used to be. Hermione chuckles,and pulls of a tear.   
“How - How this happened?” Ron asks and Hermione remembers that he too is in the room. Lyme and the Healer have left some time ago and she hasn’t even noticed.  
Sirius shrugs. “We don’t know”.  
“So- er… who are you people?” asks a male voice coming from the other side of the room. The dark-haired guy - James - is sitting on his hospital-like bed - there is one for each of the resurrected - next to the red-haired girl and they look both confused. “I mean… You apparently know each other but - how?”  
“I’m Ron”, says Ron approaching them. “And she is Hermione”.  
Hermione stretches her hand. “Well, I’m James”, James says shaking her hand.  
“I know who you are. Both of you”.  
Hermione is on the verge of tears and she isn’t sure if she is going to hold them now. It is… it is too much. She heard stories about them, newspapers wrote a lot about them especially after the war and, above all, they were- are her best friend’s parents who he has never had the occasion to know. And now they are here, standing in front of her alive. That is definitely some sort of miracle. But she also thanks Merlin that Harry is on a mission because it would be too hard and too short time of preparation for telling him.  
“Okay, but… why do you know each other?”  
“We are - Harry’s friends”, Ron says as it should explain everything.  
“Harry? Like, our son Harry?” This time it is Lily who speaks for the first time. Harry has definitely her eyes and it is almost scary. But it is really creepy how James is almost the exact same copy of Harry.  
“Where’s he? How’s Harry?” Sirius asks with urge in his eyes. “The Aurors didn’t tell us much. Just that Voldemort’s been defeated six years ago and… Well, that all charges against me have ben dropped”.  
“Yes, indeed. They’ve been dropped”.  
“And Harry? Where is he?” Remus repeats.  
Hermione looks down and Ron is not sure how to answer. That inevitably lights up fear in Sirius and Remus’ eyes.  
“Oh shit! What happened to him?”  
“Oh God!” Hermione cries. Of course they would think about something bad; Ron’s and her reaction were pretty misunderstending. “Nothing! He’s fine. He is on a mission right now with other Aurors. Somewhere in Albania, we don’t know specifically”.  
“Oh”.  
“So, he’s an Auror?” James asks and there was a tiny little proud smile on his lips, almost undetectable.  
“Yeah. And a good one”, Ron says.  
“And who defeated Voldemort?”  
“Harry. Harry did”.  
Ron takes the chair that is behind the door and with a light movement of his wand makes a copy of it for Hermione. There is a lot of talking and explanation to do. 

They manage to make a brief summary, Hermione talking mostly and Ron filling in the gaps and the details she forgets: the final war, the hunting for the Horcruxes, the Death Eaters that died and the ones that were imprisoned, how Harry defeated Voldemort in front of all the people that were fighting, the Good side and the Bad side. They tell also about the aftermath, how they rebuilt Hogwarts, how people tried their best to carry on, how they mourn those who died bravely and… Well, they couldn’t tell too much about Harry because even them don’tknow about a lot of things - what happened when Harry went into the Forbidden Forest the night Voldemort was defeated because Harry never told them - and also other things that are due to Harry.  
Obviously, Lily and James had a lot more to catch up but in that case Sirius and Remus were a great help. Sirius didn’t tell about him being in Azkaban, he only mentions that Harry grew up with the Dursleys because of the bond with Lily’s family and blood that made her love-protection on him effective. Remus, Tonks, Hermione and Ron gave him intense looks but said nothing. Apparently, the Potters didn’t notice about him asking for the charges that have been dropped and Sirius didn’t ask for the details about how it happened.  
“So, my son defeated Voldemort? All alone?” James enquires like he can’t believe it. But his face is telling something really different.  
“Yeah. Well, we all fought but… Harry killed him”.  
“And this happened six years ago?” This time it is Tonks’ question.  
“Yes”.  
“So… You are twenty-four years old now?”  
“Sure”.  
“We’ve been dead for twenty-three years?” Lily asks, her eyes full of different emotions: shock, fear, sadness…  
Hermione nods slowly.  
“This is huge… I mean, you guys were dead and now you are not”. Ron gets up from his chair. “It’s something… out of any logic. We need to find out how it happened”.  
“Sure. Definitely. But that’s up to you”, Sirius says and lays on his bed. “I just want to know when I can see Harry. When is he coming back?”  
“We don’t know but as soon as he comes back we will talk to him”, Hermione reassures.  
Sirius is a bit concerned and he wants to see with his own eyes that Harry is fine; he has caught Ron and Hermione threw each other some weird looks when talking about Harry and this worried him that they might be hiding something about his godson.  
Lyme and the Healer come back again saying that they have to do some other check-ups.  
Hermione and Ron approach the door.  
“Wait, guys!” Remus calls them back. “And what about Teddy? What about my son?”


	2. Chapter Two

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, by popular demand, here it is! Second chapter of Tightrope.   
> See you at the end.

**Chapter Two**

 

Few more days have come and gone and Harry still hasn’t showed up. The mission should have lasted less than a week but it appeared that something has hold Harry’s group of Aurors in Albania.   
Sirius, James, Lily, Remus and Tonks have been put under protection in an apartment at the top of a building that belongs to the Minister of Magic himself, Kingsley Shacklebolt, who almost fainted out of shock when he saw the dead people alive. Few people knew about their return, the Minister, the Aurors who found them and the Healers who have been checking on them. And also Ron and Hermione, of course.  
So, days have passed by, boring minute after boring minute. The apartment is great, they have nothing to complain about it; it is big, comfortable, with sufficient number of rooms and a lot of books - and even a TV which James found pretty amusing and spent a lot of time in front of it just staring at the images like children in front of a chocolate shop, but eventually also that became boring - and Kingsley’s House Elf in person has been coming to bring them some food or other stuff they asked for.   
Shacklebolt didn’t bother to come often to visit them - plenty of Ministerial job to do, he said, and also because visiting the same house would be suspicious for a man of his importance if any reporter would spot him - and the Head of the Aurors eventually stopped bothering them with questions as they have no idea how it happened. He would discover no information from them so it would be better for him to look somewhere else, even if he has no idea where; nothing like this has ever happened in the History of Magic.   
Ron and Hermione are the only people to come every day to the apartment they are hiding, asking them how they feel, if they need anything or just to chat.   
But they started to feel nervous, James in particular who is feeling like being stuck in his home in Godric’s Hollow when Voldemort was chasing for his son. Tonks either doesn’t like too much having to stay in the same place all the time. She is feeling trapped. And also she wants to see her mum and her son, but Ron and Hermione have been repeating, like Shacklebolt, that it is too soon and that maybe they need to find out more about this mystery regarding their return before telling anything to Andromeda. This, obviously, made Remus and Tonks uncomfortable and a bit angry.  
James, Lily and Sirius have been asking for Harry instead. Ron and Hermione told them some things, that Harry has been doing okay, that he is good at his job, and all that Horcrux stuff and they also brought them some old newspapers which say how he is the hero of the Wizarding World, how people love him and that he might be the most powerful wizard of all times. But they have a feeling that the two guys have been selecting the newspapers to bring them. They feel like Ron and Hermione restrain themselves from telling too much.   
And also the newspapers aren’t telling them the important things. Sure, it was great that Harry defeated Voldemort successfully and that he’s gained the recognition he deserves and all of them are so proud, but that is not what they care about. They want to know how Harry is really doing, how his life has been going, what kind of person he’s become. Fighting a war could not be so easy, especially at a young age.  
The only thing Ron and Hermione have said is that Harry would come back soon. But there is still no news from Harry.   
In conclusion, the four people did not know very well how to feel or how to behave. They can just wait and hope… what for?   
“Jamie?” Sirius calls approaching his best friend who is lying down, eyes-closed, on the couch. He is not sleeping though, probably fighting against a headache. It is his way of dealing with stress and nervousness.   
“Hm?” the other guy mumbled. At least he has his friends and his wife by his side. Lily and him had a lot more to catch up. Being dead for 23 years and finding out that you son now is older than you and quite famous is… Well, there is a lot of shit to deal with.   
“What are you thinking?” Sirius asks, sitting on the floor next to James.   
James turns his head slowly and opens his hazel eyes to face Sirius. He seems pretty tired.   
“I was thinking about Wormtail”, James says with no particular tone. Remus and Lily, who have been playing cards on the kitchen table, turn to him. Sirius frowns.  
“You know”, James keeps going, this time looking at the ceiling. “All this mess is because of him. You being sent to Azkaban… I mean, how did you even survive there? And I couldn’t help you and my son is… It’s all messed up”.   
James eventually found out about Sirius and Azkaban. And he’s been eating himself since then. He wanted to break something just to unload his rage but they are still wandless and punching things with bare hands didn’t appear like a good idea.   
“Thanks Merlin that Wormtail is dead ‘cause otherwise I would hunt him and… don’t know. Tear him apart. I would have never guessed that he was a Death Eater…”. James stopped talking when his voice started to falter. He is not a person who usually cries but in this case he doesn’t know what to do.   
Twenty-three years he has missed because of bloody Wormtail. His best friend, his brother, suffered who knows what in fucking Azkaban at the mercé of Dementors, his other friend has been left alone dealing with his sorrows, his wife died and his son has been left orphan and raised by a couple of stupid and incompetent Muggles.   
“Shh, Jamie”, Sirius comforts him resting his hand on James’ shoulder soothingly. James closes his eyes again, probably to hold back the tears. “It’s okay. Don’t muse about it. I am free now and we are here, together. It’s gonna be okay. We will catch up. Maybe all of this is just to give us another chance”.   
Even Sirius doesn’t believe his own words but they are the only words that occurred to him. Nevertheless he wants to believe to these words. He is not good at this comforting stuff, James is the one who has always been positive and good at making his friends feel better, but James is having a breakdown right now so someone else has to take the vacancy.  
“At least Remus made it through somehow”, James says after a while, turning to Remus and Tonks who just came from the bathroom. “And you have to tell me, in detail, how you convinced that moron to marry and have a child with you”.  
Tonks laughs hardly at the statement while Remus rolls his eyes in annoyance but can’t deny that he is amused.   
Finding out that Remus had a son - after spending years saying that he would never get married or have children because he didn’t want to condemn other innocent people to his curse - has been a stream of fresh air in that chaos of anxiety and distress.

 

“So you three met Harry” Lily says after some moments of silence while she and her companions in that imprisonment are having the dinner brought from Kingsley’s house elf.   
All eyes are upon her in an instant.   
“Yes, for a while”, Sirius says playing with his food. He know James and Lily are probably dying to get as more information as possible about their son and he feels so helpless not being able to provide them with those informations. After all, he’s been with Harry only for two years and not as much as he would like to.   
“How is he? I mean, when you knew him, how was he as a kid?”   
Remus decides to take the first step: “He was brave, incredibly brave. Well, like you two”.  
James smiles a little and looks down at his plate.   
“And he looked awkwardly like you, James. It was like looking at you again. Except that… he had your eyes, Lily”.   
“Really?”   
“Sure!”   
“He was able to perform a corporal Patronus at fifteen”, Tonks adds reminiscing the year she met Harry and the troubles he faced because of those Dementors.  
“I taught him that! Give me the credits”, Remus pouts turning to his wife with a big smile.   
“Oh, sorry Mister Perfection!”   
“When did that happen?” James enquires.  
“At Hogwarts. I was professor of DADA when Harry was in his third year”.   
“Really?!” James’ eyes are literally spreading out from his head in surprise but also in happiness.   
“I met him on the Hogwarts Express, actually. And that year Dementors were everywhere around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade because of Pads. Harry didn’t like them very much”.   
“Because of Sirius?” Lily’s confused.  
“Well, I’d just escaped so… they were looking for me”.   
“Oh”.   
James looks down again, his face suddenly turning in a sort of bitter mood. He has never been able to hide his feelings. Lily hides her face behind a glass of water.   
Eventually they go on talking about Harry and his years at Hogwarts, about the Triwizard Tournament, the rising of Voldemort, the Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore’s death and all other stuff that were… well, not pretty good stuff and they were so sorry to not have really good stories to tell them. Not even about Harry. Those years were marked by that fucking war and that fucking mad wizard who wanted to rule over the entire world.   
It was messed up. And all that burden had been on Harry’s shoulders only. Neither Sirius nor Remus wants to go into detail about that. James and Lily are upset enough after finding out what their son had been through at young age.

 

“Harry!” Hermione shouted when she sees Harry standing next to the elevators at the second floor of the Ministry. “When did you come back?”, she asks approaching him from the other side of the hallway.   
“Five minutes ago”, the boy says. “I didn’t have time to go home yet. I must report to my boss first”.   
“And how did the mission go?” she asks. She isn’t really interested in the mission - she is only grateful that Harry’s come back - but she doesn’t know how to introduce the subject they need to talk about.   
“Fine. We had some problems but eventually we ended it”.   
“Good”.   
She needs to call Ron for backup. She couldn’t do that alone. How would Harry react at the news she is about to tell him?   
“What happened to your arm?”, she then enquires suddenly worried when notices the bandages around Harry’s left biceps.   
“A little injury. Nothing to worry about”.   
Harry frowns and stares at his friend. He realizes that she is desperately trying to keep something from him but she would lose it soon.   
“‘Mione, what happened? There is something you must tell me”.   
“Yes, but first thing first… we must find Ron”.   
“Oh Gosh! What happened? Please, just tell me. Who died?”   
Hermione looks at him a bit puzzled. That’s Harry - well - that’s practically their lives after years of fighting and seeing people die, Harry most of all. It is sad and terrible how he jumps immediately to the conclusion that a beloved one might have died every-time someone says they want to talk to him.  
“No one died, Harry. Actually, something beautiful happened. A miracle”.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You'll have to wait the next chapter to read about Harry's meeting with his parents, Sirius, Remus and Tonks XD might be soon, I don't know yet. 
> 
> As I said, tell me if there is any mistake of grammar, syntax or logic. Kudos and comments are highly appreciated as this fanfic is a sort of experiment so I am more willing to continue when I have some feedback. 
> 
> Thank you guys, never thought this story would be so appreciated already at the first chapter : )
> 
> Cactus


	3. Chapter Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is going to be a long chapter and full of dialogues, so brace yourself.

**Chapter Three**

 

“Harry, please, say something”.   
After the news Hermione and Ron gave him, Harry remained completely paralyzed and he still hasn’t moved or said anything. For five minutes. Thank Merlin they have decided to go into an empty room.  
“Harry?” Ron calls him really worried.  
“Guys”, Harry says and Ron and Hermione can start breathing again. “You are telling me that my parents, my godfather, Professor Lupin and his wife are back from the dead?”   
“Yes”.   
“How is that even possible?”   
“We don’t know. The other Aurors and the Unspeakables are trying to find it out. They run all kind of tests. Kingsley is hiding them in one of the Ministerial apartments. It is better if the press doesn’t find out about it”.   
Harry nods slowly, stil not looking at his friends but rather onto the wall in front of him, even though he isn’t really seeing it; he is stuck on scanning the sequence of images in his head about Sirius, his death, his parents’ death and Remus’ death and other awful and crazy shit he experienced when with them. It is like going back to those years when all he could feel was grief and guilt. No, he couldn’t allow that, not now that his life has just turned to something more tolerable.   
“Hermione, this cannot be possible. I barely got my shit together. Please, don’t give me hope”.   
“Harry”. Hermione holds Harry’s hands in hers reassuringly. “I swear you, they are here. And I think they are planning to stay here”.   
“We can show you if you want”, Ron says and Harry has just the time to nod before his two best friends drag him to another room, dark and small.   
They tell Roy, the guardian, to go get a cup of coffee and Hermione plops down on his chair still warm. She swirls her wand against one of the screens attached to the wall beyond a desk and the image of a living room immediately appears.  
There were five people doing casual stuff. Harry has to open wide his eyes to distinguish the figures. When he recognizes Sirius sitting at the kitchen table his heart starts beating fast. A dark haired man is sitting upside down on the couch and, even though Harry has never seen him, he can say with no doubt that that he is James Potter. Next to him there are Remus and Tonks zapping on the telly. Lily is nowhere to see but Harry’s sure she must be in some other room.   
So it is true. The cameras couldn’t lie. Not that he didn’t believe his friends but seeing is different than just hearing.  
He looks at them carefully, studying their movements like he’s learnt to do at his job. Those kind of magic doesn’t allow the sound so he can’t hear if they are saying anything. It works like muggles CCTV Camera. Harry wonders if they know they are watched.   
Harry feels the urge to sit down before fainting or something like that. Ron pulls him a chair like he has read into his mind, but Harry doesn’t have the time to think about it. He can’t take his eyes off the screen.   
How is that even possible? He feels a complete set of different and confused emotions and, among all of them, he can certainly recognize a sort of happiness. 

 

Harry doesn’t go to visit his parents and godfather immediately. He has to think first. And calm down.   
So he goes home, takes a shower and sits on the bed, legs crossed, his mind completely blank.   
Happiness, worry, fear… those are the emotions he feels mostly but they are really chaotic, sometimes making him feel like he wanted to jump on the bed in pure joy and sometimes make him sick worried or crazy terrified.   
Being able to hug Sirius and Remus again… It is like a dream coming true. A really impossible dream. But what if his parents didn’t like him? Or expected him to be different? Sometimes even he struggles to recognize himself from the boy he used to be. Not that he doesn’t like himself, but a lot of things have changed.   
Also Sirius would have found a completely different guy now. Harry grew up, of course, this is normal, but he feels he has lost some of his strength and determination along the way. He found a rough and heavy path years after the war, something he could have said was worse than having to fight Voldemort. When you have an enemy to destroy, someone who is real and concrete and your only mission is to defeat that enemy it is like having a purpose in life, something to do. But when he found himself lost in his emotions, post-war, well… that was completely different. That is what destroyed him.  
Harry sighs and hopes that Draco would come back soon. He needs Draco right now, he is the one who knows how to deal with this sort of things. Draco has been his rock and anchor. He’ll always be.   
This is exactly how Draco finds him, still sitting on the bed, wet hair and naked - a part from the boxers - so that his tattoos are exposed.  
Draco takes a second to understand that there is something wrong. He takes a deep breath, takes off his jacket and sits next to Harry. He knows what to do, he did it a lot of time.   
“What’s wrong, babe?” he says in a quite and soft voice.   
Harry reaches his hand and looks him deep into his eyes. Then he tells him everything, obviously; he has never been planning to keep something like that from Draco.   
After the explanation Draco is utterly puzzled and incredulous.   
“They came back? How?”   
“Dunno”.   
“Wow!”   
“Yeah!”   
Harry lays on the bed, hands under his head. Draco does the same.  
“Did you go to see them?”   
Harry shakes his head.   
“Why not?” Draco’s voice is very soft. He turns to Harry who is staring at the ceiling.   
“What do I say them?”   
Draco chuckles. Is this what does Harry worries about?   
“Whatever you want, sweetheart. You have finally the chance to know your parents. And talk to Sirius and Remus again”. Draco holds Harry’s hand fiercely in his hand and kisses its knuckles. Harry turns on his left side facing Draco. His eyes are full of tears but he is forcing himself not to cry.   
Draco leans forward to rest a soft kiss on his lip. Harry opens his mouth slightly and allows Draco’s tongue to play with his.   
They kiss for few moments, than Draco pulls himself aside and wipes Harry’s wet eyes with his thumb. Harry smiles a little.   
“What about Teddy? How I am gonna explain him this?”   
“He’s a kid, Harry, he’ll understand”.   
Harry sighs. “Probably”.   
“But let’s think about one thing at time. First, you should go talk to them”.   
Harry nods. Why is Draco always so understandable and always knows the right thing to say to put Harry on the right path?   
That night, after dinner and some telly, they fall asleep wrapped up in a tight hug, Harry in Draco’s arms, his head resting on Draco’s shoulder. They always sleep like that; night has always been scary for both of them, full of nightmares and ghosts from their past coming back to hunt them in their sleep.   
They managed to sort it out eventually but still they have a lot of work to do,so the _sleep-hug_ is a kind of protection for them. 

 

The next day Harry finally decides to meet his parents and Co. He is nervous, he can’t avoid his hands from shaking and his heart is beating like hell. He wouldn’t be surprise if it decided to come out from his chest and run away.   
“Are you sure you don’t want us to come in with you?” Hermione asks for the tenth time when she and Ron bring Harry to the entrance of Kingsley’s apartment; why does she look more nervous and worried than Harry?   
Harry shakes his head; that is something he must do by himself. He still doesn’t know what to say, how to introduce himself or what to feel. Well, he has a huge set of feelings running inside him right now but he isn’t sure on which feeling he should focus on. He doesn’t want to make a fool of himself and he has no idea what kind of approach he should take. And also, should he let them talk first or should he be the one to break the ice? Clearly, he isn’t ready for that encounter at all. But, when would be the perfect time to be ready? No one could be ready for that sort of things.   
“Good luck”, Ron says behind his back.   
Yeah, definitely the words he needs to here right now.   
Harry walks the last ten meters down the hallway that separates him from his parents and godfather and former professor and his wife.  
His heart starts beating faster, if that is even possible. Each step weighs like a massive stone. There is an awkward silence. The door gets closer and closer.   
Inside the apartment Remus is the first one to hear steps outside the door, probably because of his werewolf senses. He doesn’t worry, however, probably it is just Ron or Hermione coming to visit them and bringing them everything but information they want.   
He remains sit at the kitchen table, waiting for James to play his turn. They’ve started playing cards an hour ago. The activities to entertain themselves are becoming lesser and lesser. Remus knows that someone would flip out very soon and that wouldn’t be him. Sirius and James have always been the less patient of the group.   
If that situation won’t change soon…   
When the door opens he looks up a bit annoyed. But it is not Hermione nor Ron who stands by the threshold. It is a rather tall and fit guy, wearing the total black Auror’s uniform and black combat boots, untidy jet-black hair where he can notice some grey-ish hair in between. And a scar shaped in a lightening bolt. That famous scar.   
“Harry”, Remus calls with surprised voice.   
He is changed, a lot, but it is Harry. Definitely.  
Remus freezes. Harry freezes. Everybody freezes. No-one moves. Harry stares at the people in front of him suddenly feeling the urge to turn back and ran away fast. But he does not do that. He stays still, next to the door. The atmosphere is heavy.   
Harry can feel is heartbeat punch, it is almost painful. What if he faints now? Well, at least that could be a way to get out of the situation because that is definitely not how it should go.   
They keep staring at each other for some moments than Harry decides to break the ice - because that is starting to become ridiculous - even though he doesn’t know where he finds the courage from.   
“Hello there”.   
That seems to bring some living life in the room. James and Sirius smile at him while Lily sighs in relief. James and Lily… His parents… He has never seen them - except in the photos - but it is not difficult for him to recognize them. His mother is stunningly beautiful.   
“Well, hi!” James says quite.   
Harry fixes his eyes upon Sirius. His godfather has definitely been the most difficult and excruciating loss he ever lived. Flashes of that tragic night at the Department of Mysteries hit him like a car going at full speed down a dead-end street. He feels his heart as being stabbed. He scents some tears pouring his eyelids but he manages to hold them back.   
That’s not the right time for that kind of thoughts.   
“Do you want to sit on the couch?” James asks and Harry nods immediately. His legs have been trembling and he is not sure how long he would manage to stand.   
Everybody moves towards the leaving room. Harry sits on an armchair, facing the others who have taken position on a couch and a couple of other armchairs.   
“I think I’m gonna need something strong”, Harry says and Sirius chuckles. “Kingsley brought us some old good whiskey. Do you fancy whiskey?”   
“Well, I prefer bourbon, but whiskey’s perfect”.   
Sirius gets up and goes to a little glass table next to the TV to pour six glasses of whiskey.   
“So, how have you been doing?” Padfoot asks him resting a glass of whiskey in front of his godson and going back to his sit.   
The atmosphere has become more bearable.   
“Well, I am… okay”.   
“Aren’t you twenty-four now?” James says, looking intensely at Harry.   
Harry nods a bit surprised by that question. He knows that “his parents” are twenty-one - technically - as they returned with the same age they had when they died. So that means he is older than his parents. How deranged that sounds.  
“Aren’t you a bit young to have grey hair?”   
Harry ruffles his hair with a hand; he sometimes forgets about his grey hair. It happened some time after the war, a couple of months after returning to Hogwarts. It began with one hair, then a second and a third and then he had more grey hair than he could count. This event only confirmed that he feels older than he actually is and he is reminded of that every-time he looks in the mirror.   
“They call it stress”.   
That was the diagnose. At least, Madame Chips and everybody who speculated on The-Golden-Boy’s-Untimely-Grey-Hair told him that. However, it is no wonder after everything he had been through that he could be stressed.   
“You know, you can fix it with magic”. James says. He appears to have taken that hair-thing as a personal issue.   
“I tried. But apparently it has to do with magic. I have been explained that, when a wizard undergoes a deep kind of stress and anxiety, he can endure physical changes too. Long-term changes”.   
“Oh”.   
Sirius cringes. The others wince.   
Harry looks down and guzzles down his glass. He has spoken too much. He is sure he will be bombarded with questions.   
“It suits you”, Tonks says with her usual cheerful tone. It somehow comforts Harry. “Thank you”.   
In the end, he had to admit - after everything had been tried to adjust his hair - that he didn’t mind that change. Draco told him grey hair are sexy, they give a person a sort of veteran look. And if Draco likes it then it’s okay.   
“How long have you been here?” Harry asks.   
“A week. More or less”, Remus says. “Ron and Hermione have been coming often”.   
“Yes, they told me”.   
“Are those lads you friends?” This time Lily talks, for the first time since Harry’s arrival. Her voice is exactly how he remembers in his dreams. Yes, he has been dreaming of his mum also, among other dreams - bad and good - he’s been doing.   
“The best friends I could have”, Harry says.   
Silence again. Why is it so hard to find some topics to talk about? Harry is afraid that everything he could tell would be stupid. He feels so stupid. They jumped from one topic to another and he still hasn’t asked the important stuff, he hasn’t hugged them or… showed some emotion. He’s also been trying to avoid eye contact with Sirius because he knows that he would fall apart if he looked at him.   
“So, you killed him. Voldemort, I mean”, Sirius says.  
“Yes, I did”.   
Harry looks down and regrets to have emptied his glass.  
“Someone had to do that”.   
“You know, I wouldn’t bet a pence on you”, Tonks says, taking her glass.  
Harry lifts his head towards her and frowns. “Thanks?”   
“I mean, don’t get me wrong, but you were just a kid. That shouldn’t had been your job”.   
“But it was. The prophecy and all that bullshit”.   
“How can a prophecy decide about the fate of a person?” James asks.   
“I don’t know. You tell me”.   
Harry didn’t want to sound that angry, not towards his father. He doesn’t know why his voice has come out so reproachful. He is not angry with his father, his is just angry towards his bloody fate. He’s been angry for so long.   
Harry suddenly gets up and rubs his hands against his black pants. He wants to get out, to run far away, to hide under his blankets and never come out. He feels so awkward, he hasn’t planned on doing such an impression.   
But he takes off his leather jacket and remains in the black undershirt of the Auror uniform, uncovering his arms full of tattoos. The shirt is very tight so the muscles - abdominals and pectorals - beneath it are definitely tangible. Also the biceps.   
The others do not bother around the design of the tattoos, even though they notice a lot of tribal symbols, some flowers and even a dragon.  
Harry closes his eyes for a moments and inhales deeply.   
“Do you mind if I smoke?” he asks taking his cigarette package out of his jacket and sitting down again.   
“Since when do you smoke?” Sirius enquires puzzled.  
“Since after the war”.   
Harry lights up his cigarette with the lighter and turns his empty glass in an ashtray with an agileand quick movement of his wand.   
They are quite for a while while Harry is taking some puffs from his cigarette. No, it is not helping.   
“How’s your life being after the war?” Remus enquires, studying they boy in front of him with his deep light hazel eyes.   
Harry looks down. That’s a good question. He’s unsure about telling them the short, softer and happier version - if there is any happier version - or going for the long and painful one. He doesn’t even know if he had a life after the war. Well, he has it now, but it is still so chaotic and under construction.   
No, definitely it is not the right time to scare them.   
“Fine”, he says in the end not looking anyone in the eyes. One of the hugest lie he’s ever told.   
Harry gets up again and starts pacing the room. “Listen!” he says, trying every effort to sound steadfast. “I don’t want to talk about my life right now. Or my Auror job. I want… I want to know why you are here. I mean… I’m glad, but this is not possible. This is…”.   
He remembers all that time he had spent crying his eyes out, crying in front of his friends, crying against Draco’s chest and screaming how his life is unfair, how he feels guilty for killing Sirius, his parents and all those people who died in the war. Eventually he found the strength to move on but it had been hard; he decided that he had to give life a chance if only for his parents’ sake, for not making their sacrifice useless.   
And now… Now all those certainties he had barely built up are falling apart again. Yes, deep down he is happy to see them, to know his parents, but can he be sure it would last? He doesn’t want to have hope.   
Dumbledore told him that dead people cannot come back, there is no magic with such power. Not even the Resurrection Stone.   
“This is impossible”.   
“We know but…”, Sirius begins. “It happened. Maybe it’s a second chance”.   
Harry looks up at his godfather and squeezes the fag butt in the ashtray. Then he sits again.   
“And do you remember anything? About… well, the afterlife”. Harry still remembers very vividly when he spoke to them in the Forbidden Forest when he was going to face his own death. But he is not sure if it would be okay asking them if they too remember that episode.  
Remus shakes his head. “No”.   
“But you are feeling fine. How?”   
“We don’t know that either. The Aurors and the Healers did every test on us…”.   
Harry nods slowly and flops against the armchair.   
“I know this is crazy”, Lily says. “But we are happy to see you”.   
Harry smiles softly still staring at the floor.   
“You are so beautiful”, his mum says in a soft and touching voice and Harry feels his heart melting. Draco tells him often that but hearing that compliment from his mother… Well, definitely another kind of feeling.  
“At least you haven’t inherited my poor sight”.   
Harry laughs. “Actually, I have. I wore glasses for years but they are difficult to manage when you are fighting. I broke them I don’t even know how many times. So I prefer contact lenses”.   
“Oh”.   
“They are useful”.   
“And how are Aurors doing now? Is the training still hard?” Tonks asks. Harry remembers she used to be the best Auror candidate of her year.   
“I think it’s even harder than before. We do a lot of physical activity and hand-to-hand”.   
Well, that explains his fit body.   
“Ron and Hermione told us you were on a mission in Albania. How did it go?” Sirius asks.   
“Fine. There were some wizards trying to sell forbidden potions. They were English so we had to take care of them”. It is comfortable talking about his job because at least it is something casual and not remembering him his past. Well, not so much at least.   
“And who led the mission?”   
“I did”.   
Everybody freezes again, this time in positive surprise. “WoW! At twenty-four? My boss would never allow me to do lead a mission and give orders to other men at that age”, James says.   
Harry chuckles.   
“That’s because you were undisciplined” Lily says turning to his husband.   
_Maybe you would have if you hadn’t died at twenty-one_ , Harry finds himself musing. Then he tries to come back into control.   
“You know”, he starts and gazes at his father. “People used to say me that I looked exactly like you. I’ve always thought they were going too far. But now I must admit that it’s like looking in the mirror”.   
James smiles. “Yeah, it’s a bit uncanny”.   
“It is”.   
Unconsciously Harry pulls out a necklace that hitherto has been hidden under his shirt. It is a thin metal plate hooked on a long necklace made in metal as well, a piece of Aurors’ jewelry. He starts to fiddle with it.   
“Who has the other one?” James asks, looking at the necklace. Harry frowns. “I know they give two of those plates to the Aurors so they can hold one for themselves and give the other one to the beloved ones”. He and Lily exchanged them when they both became Aurors. Muggle soldiers used them as identification during the war - to be recognized in case of death or to know what blood type they have in case of transfusion - but in the Aurors’ tradition they would be given to sons or daughters or a partner if they want and also engrave names or something meaningful on.   
Harry looks down. His heart starts pacing fast again. He gave the other plate to Draco, of course, where he engraved his name, and kept for himself the one with Draco’s name on it.   
He hasn’t thought of it, of the fact that maybe he should tell them about Draco. But how? He hasn’t been scared of telling people that he is gay for years now and he is not planning on starting again; he also doesn’t restrain from telling people that he is in love with Draco. But his parents and godfather are a different thing, they are not random people. How would they react?   
_Just stop thinking, Harry, and do it.  
_ “Do you have someone special?” James says.   
_You owe it to Draco, you owe him. They will understand.  
_ “Who is she?” Sirius says this time. They wouldn’t give up on this topic.   
_Oh God, they are assuming it’s a woman.  
_ “Actually”, Harry begins, his voice raspy. “I have to tell you something”.   
“What is it?”   
He hesitates. Everybody is smiling encouragingly. Harry takes a deep breath in, then a deep breath out. Then he lights up another cigarette.   
“So?” James insists.   
“I am…”.   
_Just fuck say it! They are not gonna get mad! They love you!  
_ “I am gay”, Harry breaths out and looks cautiously at them.  
There are some moments of silence - maybe everybody just trying to absorb that piece of information - before James and Lily opens up in a huge grin.   
“Fuck! I thought you would tell us you have a kid. Not that that would be a bad news, it’s just that becoming grandad at twenty-one, well… it’s something huge”.   
Harry laughs, a genuine and amused laugh for the first time since he has come in and everybody immediately feels relieved. Actually he would like to say to his father that he is a bit wrong, that he has a son - sort of - but maybe that could be the story for another time.  
“That’s okay, honey”, Lily says in a sweet voice.  
“So, who is the guy?” Sirius asks, reformulating the sentence.   
“You are not gonna believe me when I tell you”.   
“Try us”.   
Harry chuckles. “It’s Draco”.   
Remus looks at him carefully and frowns. “Wait, you mean, Draco as Draco Malfoy?”   
“Yes, Draco Malfoy”.   
“What? Malfoy… Like Lucius Malfoy?” Sirius asks remembering very well the guy from Slytherin always bragging about his being a Pureblood and not caring to let people know his loath for Muggleborns. And how to forget his punch in that Lucius’s haughty face during the Battle at the Department of Mysteries?   
“I thought you and that guy hated each other”, Remus says. He had plenty of time to be in contact with that kid while teaching at Hogwarts and he just assumed he was like his father, given all that shenanigans with the poor Buckbeak. Guess he’s been wrong.  
“We did. But I guess that the line between love and hate is really thin. So he is the one who has the other plate”.  
“You are in relationship with my and Sirius’s cousin”, Tonks says.   
Harry looks at her astonished. He’s forgotten about that little detail, sometimes he also forgets that Teddy too is Draco’s cousin.   
“I guess so”.   
“I really want to know how you two ended up together”.   
That is less funny story to tell. Actually, it’s a bit hurtful.   
“Eventually, a Potter and a Black always end up together”, Sirius says quietly when Harry’s phone rings. He pulls it out from the pocket of his jacket and looks at the screen.  
“Sorry, I have to go. It’s work”.   
“Oh”. The others appear to be sad, they have been enjoying that chatting.  
“I’ll come as soon as possible”, Harry says and squashes the half-finished cigarette in the ashtray.   
“Wait, Harry!” Remus stops him before he could turn to the door. “What about Teddy?”   
Harry sighs, unsure. “I have to talk to Andromeda, explain her the situation. Then… I promise you’ll meet him”.   
With that, he goes away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you guys for reading til here. Hope you enjoyed.   
> As usual, tell me what do you think, your opinions and critics are always appreciated. Also, I don't think I should you remind you this, but if there are some mistakes in language just tell me, please.   
> I hope I'll be able to update again this week. 
> 
> Yes, Harry's got tattoos and greyish hair XD and he also smokes.


	4. Chapter Four

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Pay attention, there is an explicit sex scene in this chapter (I took inspiration from an episode of the last season of Black Mirror).  
> If you are too sensitive just skip it. Otherwise, enjoy it : )

**Chapter Four**

 

When Harry finally comes home after that crazy day, he sees Draco sitting in the kitchen and drinking his cup of tea while reading some papers. He lifts his eyes towards Harry distractedly but immediately notices that something’s wrong with him.   
“Hey, babe”, he says in soft voice, opening his arms as an invitation for Harry to come over. Harry doesn’t even think, he simply crashes against Draco’s chest. Draco wraps his arms around Harry and pulls him closer, hearing his boyfriend sobbing and crying onto his shirt.  
“What happened, sweetie?” Draco asks again, even softer.  
“I met my parents today. And Sirius”, Harry says still resting his face against Draco’s chest. He feels so comfortable and safe there.   
“Oh”. That’s the only thing Draco is able to say. He presses a hand against Harry’s head and starts rubbing his back in an attempt to comfort him.   
They stay silent for some moments. Harry is not sure why he is crying; he’s been feeling the urge to cry the whole day after the encounter with Sirius, his parents, Remus and Tonks - well, even during the encounter - but he couldn’t because he was at work and didn’t want to have a breakdown in front of his colleagues. He didn’t even have time to talk to Ron or Hermione. So he just braced himself and hold the tears until he’s reached home, where he can show every fucking emotion he wants, aware that Draco would stay by his side to pick up the pieces.   
“How did it go? Was it bad?” Draco asks after a while, raising Harry’s head to look at his wet yet stunning green eyes.   
“No”, Harry says hurriedly wiping his tears with his thumb. “It was… It was okay. Actually, it was more than okay. We talked about a lot of stuff… My job mostly and I… I told them about us”.   
Draco grins. “What did they say?”   
“They were okay with that. A bit surprise to know that you and I are together”.   
Draco laughs a little. “Why are you crying then?”  
Harry shrugs and looks at Draco’s shirt where it is wet because of his tears. “I don’t know, I was just… worn out. You know, it’s been a long and tough and crazy day. It doesn’t happen everyday to meet your dead parents and godfather and ex professor”.   
“Yeah. Guess so”.   
It doesn’t happen everyday and it doesn’t happen to all people, Draco thinks. This is that kind of weird and crazy stuff that could happen only to Harry.   
But at least this time seems to be something positive. It must be because otherwise Harry would be devastated and Draco had to pick up a lot of Harry’s pieces in the past and try his best to mend them, and he is not sure how sturdy his work is.  
“Harry?” Draco calls, and his voice appears somewhat cautious.  
Harry looks up at him and faces his bright icy eyes.   
“Are you happy? I mean… To have Sirius back and meeting your parents”.   
Harry nods. “I am. Really, I am. It’s just that… I am also so scared”.   
“What for?”   
“You know… I am used to losing people but not having them back. And… when you have a lot you care about it’s easier to… lose them”.  
Draco hugs him in a tight and warm embrace. It is so Harry to think about this stuff, it is how he grew up, but it breaks Draco’s heart knowing that his boyfriend never gets to really enjoy something beautiful because of his fear to get it ripped from him.   
“Don’t think about it now. Okay, hon? Please, just relax and you’ll see… Everything’s gonna be fine”. Then he pulls Harry in front of himself and smiles at him. “Why don’t you go upstairs, have a shower while I prepare something for dinner?”  
Harry nods; suddenly he feels a lot better. He knew that with Draco everything would come at its right spot.   
“Meow!” They here meowing from the corner of the kitchen and both guys turn to look at their black kitty.   
“I think you should feed her first”, Harry says.  
“Definitely”. 

 

James is staring outside the window of the living room; the skylight is stunning, that’s sure, especially at night, but he is feeling rather nervous. He has this weird sensation running through his guts and making him feel almost sick.   
He doesn’t know how to define it or why is he feeling like that, anyway. He barely hears Lily approaching him, but nevertheless she’s always been rather quiet in her movements.   
“Hey, darling. What’s wrong?”   
She’s always had this amazing quality of understanding people she loves, especially when they are not feeling quite themselves. But instead of approaching them with an aggressive tone or showing impatience, she would stand by them almost unnoticeably and make them talk using all the softness she is capable of.  
That was the thing that made James completely and madly fall in love with her.  
“I was…”, James begins still looking through the glass. “I was thinking about Harry”.   
“Me too, sweetie”, Lily says.   
“Yes, but I mean”. James finally turns to his friends who are sitting on the sofa or the couch. He is not sure what kind of words to use. He is not even sure how to express himself. “I mean, he was so… I don’t know how to define it. Maybe restrained? Controlling all his words like he was trying to say the least, not to disclose too much”.   
“Well, could you blame him?” Remus asks. “We are supposed to be dead but we are here, alive. It’s not something you just deal with. It’s a shock. I think it’s quite normal for him to act like that”.   
James rests for some moments, looking down at the floor, hands in the pockets of his trousers. They have been wearing some clothes Kingsley Shacklebolt and his staff - with Ron and Hermione - managed to find them.   
“Plus, he’s never seen you guys”, Sirius adds looking at James and Lily with a reassuring smile. “I am sure he’ll be more talkative next time”.   
“It’s not just that”, James goes on not feeling reassured at the slightest. “It’s like there was something more, like- he was trying to say something between the lines. Or at least he was thinking about it. Yeah, he said he was fine and he was okay with his job… but I don’t know. I don’t know how fine he is”. James plops down on the last available couch left in the living room, rubbing his hair with a hand, not sure if he’s made himself clear. Lily is staring at him with concern. If there is something to worry about her son she would be damned if she won’t worry about him. She would definitely go again through everything they had to go through when Voldemort was threatening their son.   
But she is having a hard time to understand James right now. She was so happy and ecstatic to meet her son - so beautiful and handsome - that she didn’t stop on the way he was speaking or the meaning he was perhaps putting between the lines. Is she so careless?   
“I wanted to hug him”, James says. He is not the type who would let go an issue so easily. “I desperately wanted to hug him, all the particles in my body were screaming to hug him. You know? But… he seemed so uptight, so uncomfortable that I feared he wouldn’t like it, that he would somehow snap. So, I didn’t. I don’t even know how he feels about hugging and all that stuff”.   
Sirius and Remus look at each other. Tonks, who’s been resting on her husband lap all that time, gets up and look at the guy. She wants to say something but doesn’t know what. She is the only person who doesn’t really have a bond with Harry, not like the others, so she probably isn’t the best person to talk right now or give comfort.   
“Give him some time”, Remus says. “He’ll be the one to come to you, don’t worry”.   
James sighs.   
“Well, you guys have been the most with him. You must know him, right? You know how he is and if this behavior is normal for him”, Lily says; she would try at least to make her husband feel better.   
Sirius bites his lower lip nervously. Now that the question is on the table, he can’t really be so sure about his knowledge of Harry. He didn’t have so much time with his godson - only a couple of years - and even in that case they saw each other rarely, like on holidays or when Harry would bring Sirius’ some food when he was on the run. Only Merlin knows how bad he feels about that.   
He promised James and Lily that he would take care of their son if something should happen to them and… Well, he messed up as usual.  
“You know, James, he could be as same as you in his looks but… He is a different type. More like Lily. Well, he’s got the best of both of you, guys, but he has his very specifics. He is not someone who would show his emotions easily”.   
“I think he just had a lot to think about”, Remus says. “The war, Voldemort, the prophecy. And he was just a teenager. But I assure you he’s never been alone”.   
“Not at all”, Tonks adds bending her knees under her bottom and yawning.   
“I wonder how it’s been living with your family, Lils… That Dursley man… Never seen such a dick before”.   
“This was one of the topic he didn’t talk about so often”, Sirius says. “He would say they were boring and too much attached to their normality. But nothing more, so… Guess, nothing special on that side”.   
“Petunia’s my sister”, Lily says. “And Harry is her nephew. I know she can be awful and act like a bitch but she’s my and Harry’s family. Maybe I’ll ask Harry where she is now the next time we see him. Just out of curiosity”.  
James gets up - still nervous - and goes to the fridge to get a beer.   
“I am just tired of staying here. It feels like in prison”.   
“Yes, I know”, Sirius says staring at the silent images flowing on the TV.  
James bites his lip and curses himself internally. “Er-sorry… I didn’t mean…”.   
“No worries, James. It’s okay”.  
James sighs but says nothing. He is definitely tired and nervous. 

 

They’ve eaten on the couch in front of the TV - some pasta as it is one of the three things Draco is able to do - watching some news and then a couple of episodes of Friends, Harry’s favorite TV show, he always laughs hard when he watches it. Draco doesn’t know how he could find it so funny - especially some of Chandler’s daddy jokes - but as long as Harry laughs it’s okay for him. Harry’s laughter is one of the best sounds he’s ever heard and there are still too few days Harry laughed.   
So Draco would pick up every occasion to make Harry laugh and if that means watching a bloody muggle TV show with him he could do that.  
But as the episode started to approach its ending, Harry’s head slowly fell on Draco’s lap. Draco knows it’s been a hard day for his boyfriend but still he couldn’t resist it and also he thinks that maybe Harry would like something to distract himself. He starts rubbing Harry’s chest casually, randomly even, with one hand, like he doesn’t even notice that he’s doing that. He always starts like that. But he must admit that he loves touching Harry’s chest, feeling his muscles under his hands. Even under his shirt those muscles are noticeable.   
But the thing escalates pretty quickly. When Draco starts to rub his nipples, playing with them, pinching them, Harry bends his back a little and gives off a small cry. Draco is grinning at him maliciously when Harry turns to face him; he ignores that bloody grin and pulls him towards himself to kiss him roughly. In the amid of the kiss, Draco quickly takes Harry’s shirt off - uncovering other tattoos on his back and chest - and rubs his hands on Harry’s body, everywhere, back, shoulders, chest… down to his ass. Then he squeezes it, hard and presses his cock against Harry’s. They are still kissing and Harry murmurs something inaudible but Draco understands that he is enjoying. He is enjoying a lot.   
“Draco…”, Harry calls.   
“Yes, Harry?”   
“Fuck me”.   
The lust in his his eyes is almost touchable, making his green eyes even shinier.   
“You want me?” Draco asks only to provoke him and buy himself some time in order to make Harry even more hungry for desire.   
“Fuck yes!”   
Then Draco strongly pushes Harry against the setback of the couch where Harry collapses with his back towards Draco. Draco _accios_ the bottle of lube from the drawer of their bedroom - he doesn’t want to waist time with going to their bedroom, besides, what’s the point in having their own home if they can’t have sex in every place of the house? - and unhooks Harry’s jeans and lowers them a little, just enough to get to his asshole and his cock. He takes off his own pants and prepares himself. But he is already hard. They are both hard.  
“Please, Draco”, Harry pleads.   
His boyfriend is getting impatient and that happens rarely. With the help of some lube, Draco starts fingering him and Harry immediately starts to cry for pleasure. Harry is a screamer when it comes to sex, Draco’s discovered for his delight, he makes loud and sexy noises and it onlymakes Draco even more harder. He knows Harry’s body, he knows how to trigger it, how to arouse him, they have done it plenty of time: sweet sex, light sex, hard sex, even sex with toys. When it comes to hard sex it means that Harry needs to clear his mind and not to think of anything.  
Finally Draco pushes his cock inside Harry and the Gryffindor releases a loud and deep sigh.   
“Harry”, Draco moans trying to get himself some space. Harry’s always so tight. Harry’s head is hanging beyond the couch, he is moaning and his body is sweaty. But he likes it a lot, he likes it hell a lot. He stares at the plate with Draco’s name written on it hanging down his neck and swinging a little. But he is too much enjoying the pleasure he is feeling behind to pay enough attention to it.  
Draco starts to push and pull in Harry’s ass, drifting his hands on Harry’s thighs to reach his cock and starts to masturbate him. With his other hand he slides up Harry’s chest, towards his neck and right to his mouth where he puts in two fingers which Harry bites not too strongly. Draco is kissing and biting Harry’s shoulder while still pushing and pulling his cock.   
“Oh fucking Merlin!” he exhales ecstatic.   
They come together, Draco inside Harry and Harry in Draco’s hand. The Slytherin allows himself only a few seconds of rest before _accioing_ some tissues from the kitchen table and gives a couple of them to Harry to clean himself. Breathing heavily, they collapse on the couch, both looking at the confused images on the TV not even paying attention to the program.  
After a while, Harry turns to Draco and smiles softly to him. “Thank you”.   
“What for?” Draco asks.   
“For… you know. Being you”.   
Draco chuckles and stretches a hand to take Harry’s. They are still half naked and their cocks- now flaccid - are exposed. Draco hasn’t taken his shirt off but he rarely does. His bun is a bit loosen.  
“I hope Athena wasn’t here”.   
“Not that she could understand what we are doing”.  
“She’s a smart cat”.  
Harry chuckles and stands up. “Let’s go to bed. It’s been a long day”. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, Draco and Harry have a little Kitty called Athena XD They are really the typical gay couple :D Also, Harry likes Friends as it is one of my favourite TV show (and I love Chandler).  
> Tell me what you think about this chapter as any review - positive and negative - makes me more willing to update. Also, as usual, signal me if there is any mistake in language. 
> 
> Thanks,  
> C.


	5. Chapter Five

**Chapter Five**

 

Telling Andromeda has been overwhelming. She didn’t believe him at first, of course, but then she started to curse and to deny, telling him that he was a fucking liar. Then she laughed and, finally, she cried in Harry’s arms.  
Harry didn’t know how to react to all of that, he too was still confused and traumatized by the event, but he held the woman in his arms until she managed to calm down herself. It’s been weird to see that strong and tenacious woman breaking down like that. But finding out that your daughter is alive after six years could be considered as an exception. Luckily Teddy was at school.  
When she composed herself she demanded - in that demanding and almost threatening tone that belonged only to the Black family - to see Nymphadora.  
So, he went with her, after phoning his chief, and the encounter… Well, the encounter between mother and her once-dead daughter has been… Heartbreaking. Harry must admit now that he has been having few emotionally rough days lately.  
Andromeda cried a lot, Nymphadora kept herself from crying but it costed her a lot of effort which she managed through teasing her mother for crying. And they hugged a lot. Andromeda hugged also Remus and her cousin Sirius, telling them how happy she was to see them, and she also seemed very pleased to meet James and Lily.  
Harry watched the scene like in a movie. And he - even though he would never admit it - is someone who cries a lot when watching dramatic movies. That scene in front of him was literally like a dramatic movie.  
He lighted up a cigarette at a certain point, just to keep his hands busy and wiping off the tears.That was a few minutes ago.  
Kingsley Shacklebolt comes in and all the magic stops. Harry would be rather happy if he had less to deal with the Minister. He loathes him in an honest and genuine way. Shacklebolt is aware of that, of course, and would’ve really liked to change that fact but eventually he had to come to terms with it. He knows Harry’s got his reasons, he doesn’t blame him, but he couldn’t do too much to avoid what happened some years ago and that brought to that feeling of distrust and hatred in Harry.  
Harry decides to remain aside smoking another cigarette; he couldn’t avoid Kingsley being in the room but at least he could pretend he isn’t there.  
“I came here to bring you your wands”, the Minister says taking out five long and narrow boxes. The five “Resurrected” stare at their wands with sparkling eyes. A wand is like another arm for a wizard. They immediately feel relieved as they take their wands.  
“I’d also like to discuss about another thing”, Shacklebolt says. “You see, this is a temporary place, you can’t stay here forever. But we haven’t found out anything about your miraculous return yet, so it is better that you don’t go under the public eye. It’s too risky. You should... well, hide for some more time”. Kingsley pauses and looks at the people staring at him just to understand their reaction.  
“How much more?” Sirius asks.  
“That’s a difficult question. Not forever, I hope. We need to discuss this thing long and deep, be prepared if we decide to go public sooner or later. Of course there will be chaos and people will be talking whatever we decide but at least we could have a plan. That means also finding out about this mystery. But for that I need some time”.  
James and Sirius don’t look so happy at the moment.  
“But where are we going to stay if we can’t stay here?” Lily asks.  
Kingsley moves his gaze to Harry who, probably sensing his eyes upon him, stops looking at the floor and fixes his green eyes on the Minister trying to preserve the neutral look he’s been wearing all that time.  
“I would recommend you to go to Harry’s. If that’s okay for you, Harry. You have room, right?”  
Harry nods imperceptibly and takes another puff of smoke from his cigarette. Everybody is looking at him now.  
“Yes of course. Not a problem”.  
“Good”.  
The more Kingsley is being nice the more Harry gets irritated. The Minister is trying his best to act normal but Harry doesn’t even want to pretend.  
“So this is set. I am really sorry but I have to go now. We will update soon when we decide to move you, okay?”  
“Good for me”.  
With these last words Kingsley leaves the apartment.  
James grins towards Harry.  
“So we are staying at your home now”.  
“Mine and Draco’s, yeah”.  
“You two leave together?”  
Harry nods and blows out the cigarette. Then he approaches the other people and sits on the couch.  
“We’ve been living together since... well, a while after the school. But I have plenty of space, no worries”.  
“Where?” Remus asks.  
“Near Reading. It’s a nice place. I sold Grimmauld”. Harry says the last sentence looking at his godfather. “Hope you don’t mind”.  
“Absolutely not. Always hated that house. I just wonder how you found someone who would buy it”.  
“He was a pretty weird bloke. A collector of antiquities. He was delighted with all the things he found in there”.  
Tonks turns to her mum grabbing Remus’ hand; the werewolf turns to her worriedly.  
“How’s Teddy, mum?”  
Andromeda grins widely.  
“He is fine. He is six years old now and he is so... A lovely boy. So smart and so sweet. He’s started school less than a month ago”.  
“A muggle school?” Remus asks.  
“Yes. I sent Dora to a muggle school too before she attended Hogwarts because Ted and I wanted her to be in touch with muggle world. And also to help her to get used to other kids and people. So Harry and I decided to do the same with Teddy”.  
All gazes turn to Harry who is sitting uncomfortable on the couch, looking down. He knows it’s time to reveal some more things about Teddy.  
“You and Harry?” Sirius enquires putting in a curious expression on his face.  
“Dora and I named Harry Teddy’s godfather when he was born”, Remus says as explanation. Lily and James grin.  
“It’s not just that”, Andromeda adds looking at Harry. “Do you want to explain?”  
“What? What’s wrong?” Nymphadora asks concerned now. Remus and she are sitting on the other sofa in front of Harry and Andromeda.  
“Nothing’s wrong”, Harry rushes to explain. His heart is heavy suddenly, unsure of how Remus and Tonks will react when he would reveal what he has to reveal. “It’s just...”, he starts, exchanging another look with Andromeda who nods as encouragement. “When I finished attending Hogwarts, Andromeda asked me to... Well, to adopt Teddy. So, I signed some papers and since then I am legally and morally responsible for him”.  
“I felt more confident this way”, Andromeda adds. “I just wanted to make sure that Teddy will have someone to look after him if something happened to me. I am not that old but I am not young either. Having two parents is better than having one”.  
Everybody seem a bit touched.  
“So you are his father”, Sirius says with no particular emotion.  
“Technically yes”, Harry says looking at Remus. “But I swear I’ve never pretended to be his real dad. Teddy knows that, he knows that I am his godfather and that you... He knows about you and what you did, why you died. Andromeda and I told him stories”. Harry feels tears threatening again against his eyelids so he flutters a bit to hold them back. Definitely not the right time to cry.  
“Harry, I am just happy that he has someone to look after him and who loves him”, Remus says with a soft smile. “And after what you told me I am even more happy that I chose you as his godfather. Thank you for raising my kid. Especially as you were so young when... Well, when you decided to be his caretaker. It must have been hard”.  
Harry smiles and lowers his gaze feeling a bit embarrassed.  
“Teddy’s a special kid, he is not fussy at all. I love him so much”.  
Harry would like to add that he was nineteen when he adopted Teddy, only one year younger than his parents when they had him and sacrificed themselves at twenty-one; but he preferred to skip that part.  
“Harry’s been a great help”, Andromeda says. “And Teddy is a happy kid”.  
“But can we meet him?” Tonks asks restless.  
“Of course you can, sweetie”, her mother replies with emotion in her voice. “But first we must talk to Teddy, explain him some things”.  
“You want to tell him the truth?” Remus asks  
“Sure”, Andromeda replies again. “He is a kid, he will understand easily. You know how kids are, they can accept all sort of things with not much concern”.  
Harry agrees and muses about how he too used to accept all sort of things too easily when he was a kid, also the bad treatments he would got from the Dursleys that brought him to convince himself that he wasn’t worthy of being loved.  
“Speaking of Teddy, I must go to pick him up from school now”. Andromeda says getting up. Harry follows her. “And I have to go back to work”.  
“Okay”, comes the disappointed reply from the others; they always feel like they are having too little time with Harry.  
James watches his son’s back while he is reaching for the door thinking that, again, he hasn’t got that bloody hug. 

 

“My parents, Sirius, Remus and Tonks are coming to stay here”, Harry spits out while he and Draco are having dinner that same evening.  
“Oh”, Draco looks up at his boyfriend who is staring at his plate like he is not even seeing it.  
“Kingsley thinks that they are safer here. Aurors are working to find out why they came back so it is better for now that the press doesn’t find out”.  
“Of course”. Draco feels suddenly tense. Harry throws him a quick look noticing that his mouth is stretched in a tight line.  
“If you don’t want it I can arrange something different”, Harry adds quickly.  
Draco shakes his head. “Harry, of course I want them. It’s just...”.  
“What?”  
“They are your parents, your family. And they are coming to live with us. I am...”. Draco doesn’t know how to tell him exactly how he feels. Actually, he knows what he feels, he is just not so sure he wants to confess it. It is too embarrassing for him.  
Harry looks at him confused and pushes him to confess with a glance.  
“I mean... Meeting your boyfriend’s parents and family is always... You know, weird and a bit under pressure”.  
Harry takes some moments to gather this information and then he finds himself chuckling in amusement. Draco’s face heats up a bit so his cheeks have got that light tone of red that Harry finds pretty cute on him.  
“You are nervous!” Harry exhales still laughing. “Really, Draco? You of all people”.  
“Well...”, Draco starts but those words only make him even more embarrassed. He is looking at Harry with sulky expression. “Stop mocking me”.  
Harry takes Draco’s hands letting his laughter die. “I am not mocking. I find it rather cute. And, Draco... you have nothing to worry about. They’ll like you”.  
“Oh sure, because people usually like me, right?”  
Harry ties his grip on Draco’s hand, intertwining their fingers. Draco is aware that people around Harry doesn’t usually like him because of what he was and what he did, he can still figure in his head the despised expression on the Weasleys’ faces. Eventually Ron and Hermione have come to some terms with him but only because of their friendship with Harry. The other Weasleys, who are Harry’s family after all, aren’t so happy with their relationship, with Draco to be honest and he can’t blame them. Still, they invite him to parties and festivities but he knows they would rather not.  
“Draco”, Harry calls with a sigh. “Please, stop. They are going to like you. I am sure. Plus, Sirius and Tonks are your cousins. Maybe you’ll find out you have a lot in common”.  
Draco is not sure how much he could have in common with a grown up man who he barely knows and a young girl who used to be in Hufflepuff, but doesn’t say anything.  
He just asks after emptying his plate. “How are you, Harry? I mean, with your parents here and of all that”.  
Harry sighs heavily pulling away his plate. “I don’t know. I’m okay, it’s just too weird. I still don’t know how to act around them or what can I tell. All our conversations seem empty and useless”.  
“I know. You just have to get used to it. Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll sort all things out”.  
Harry shows a little grin to the blonde appreciating his attempt of comforting him. He’s not that sure of Draco’s words but he hopes it would end up as he said. Even though there are many skeletons in the closet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it is, another chapter.  
> Hope you enjoyed it. Harry hates Shacklebolt and there is a specific reasons but I would like to read your theories about it if you have any.  
> Besides, please tell me if I am making mistakes in my writing; I have like this feeling that everything is quite wrong. I just went to see my English exam yesterday, which I passed but apparently I made a lot of mistakes in the writing part so I got a low mark.  
> So I am feeling a bit blue also 'cause I have other exams to do :( 
> 
> See ya next time.  
> C.


	6. Chapter Six

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From now on you will read also some flashbacks of how Harry and Draco got together and what happened to them in the past, but not in every chapter.   
> They'll be in italics but I'll also put a date so you can understand better. 
> 
> Se you later :)

**Chapter Six**

_King’s Cross - Hogwarts (1998)_

 

_When Draco saw him at King’s Cross he was unabashedly surprised. Both in a positive and a negative way. Potter was there, standing with his friends, Granger and the Weasley siblings; the latters were talking, laughing, chuckling, immersed in a deep conversation. Probably talking about the new year at Hogwarts, a fresh start after the war, no more Voldemort threatening every lives. But Potter wasn’t participating, he wasn’t even pretending to be slightly interested. His eyes were staring the wall in front of him, a complete void, his face was emotionless, like he wasn’t caring. But Draco knew there were a lot of things going on through Potter’s mind, he just couldn’t guess what and only Merlin knew how much he would’ve liked to know. Potter seemed tired as those heavy bags under his eyes were signaling.  
_ _That was the negative part.  
_ _The positive part - or at least that was how he ended up to think about it in retrospect - was that Harry changed; he was taller, even fitter, his eyes brighter - even though so tired and sad - and his hair were messy as always but this time there appeared to be a sort of purpose and order in that mess. He seemed to have acquainted also some taste in dressing.  
_ _Harry was cool. And Draco wanted to approach him, to talk to him. He was almost craving for it. He wanted to thank him for testifying in his behalf at the Wizengamot and avoiding a life-sentence at Azkaban. Even though the Prophet wasn’t so enthusiast about it afterwards and made all kind of speculation; how is it possible that the Savior, the Chosen One, the Golden Boy, the Hero of the World had decided to set a Death Eater free? As regards the public opinion in the article was that he should rotten in Azkaban. And sometimes he found himself thinking that too._  
Well, Draco could guess that Harry didn’t care much about that article and its speculations. He should be used to those things.   
_But Draco was grateful because he spent only a month in that jail and almost lost his mind. Now he could understand why the Dementors made Harry so sick when they were everywhere around Hogwarts in their third year. They trigger people’s worst memories and fears and Harry must have plenty of them even at that young age.  
_ _Draco stood in his place, frozen; he didn’t move. Harry was with his bloody friends so it didn’t seem to be a good idea to go there and talk to him. He could imagine the disgusted looks that Granger and the two Weasleys would throw at him, they could even start a fight. Gryffindors were so reckless sometimes._  
Eventually they got on the train and Draco lost sight of Potter.   
At Hogwarts, as days went by and he’d been dragged by lessons, home-works, studying, Blaise and Astoria’s company, trying to find a sort of anonymity and avoid those people who despised him, he didn’t find time to look for Potter. But his attention was always towards him, in class, in the library, in the yard… And Harry always had that sad and tormented look on his face, even when he would laugh slightly at some Weasley’s joke. That made Draco craving for Potter even more.   
_Then it happened. One evening, shortly after dinner. Draco found Potter wandering next to the library like he didn’t know where to go or like he didn’t want to go to any specific place.  
_ _“Potter!” Draco called surprising even himself. He acted out of the blue. Potter stopped his wandering and turned to him. Draco sighed under those strongly green eyes.  
_ _“What?” Potter asked. He didn’t take out the wand nor made any expression of anger as he would have done in the previous years._  
Draco walked down the few meters that separated them and stopped in front of Potter.   
_“I just wanted to say thank you. You know… for testifying for me”. The Slytherin looked down feeling embarrassed and unease. That sounded awkward. He didn’t want to sound like that.  
_ _“Yeah, whatever, Malfoy. Not a big deal”. Draco heard the reply and lifted his head, a bit confused._  
Harry started to leave when Draco called him again. That wasn’t how he wanted it to go and he felt that if he had missed that chance he wouldn’t have another one ever.  
_“Are you okay?” he asked.  
_ _Potter frowned and didn’t say anything. Just stared at Malfoy like he had grown a second head.  
_ _“Yes, fine”, Harry said. A lie. Draco could definitely tell that was a lie. He himself was a good liar so he had always been good at recognizing other liars and Harry definitely wasn’t one of them.  
Harry wasn’t okay and he hadn’t been in a while.   
_ _But that was how it started, in that corridor, after dinner, as September was leaving behind letting October and its gray and cold days to overcome._

 

Present day 

 

Harry wakes up with a sudden gasp and gets up sitting with a twitch. Bloody nightmares. He is sweaty and his heart is racing. He breaths in and breaths out a couple of times to control his breathing, when he feels Draco’s gentle touch on his naked back.  
“Harry?” he calls him gently but his voice is still sleepy.   
“Sorry, babe, didn’t mean to wake you up”, Harry says; his body is stiffly and he hasn’t turn to look at Draco.   
“No worries. What happened? Are you okay?”   
Draco, a bit more awake now, sits to put his arms around Harry’s waist and cuddle him. Harry leans against Draco’s chest and tries to relax.   
“Just a nightmare”.   
Draco lies down again and pulls Harry with him without letting him go from his grip, so that Harry is still resting against Draco’s chest.   
Harry sighs deeply and closes his eyes.   
“What was the nightmare?”   
“The one where Sirius dies”.  
Draco kisses Harry’s temple softly. He knows every Harry’s nightmare.  
“It’s okay, babe. It’s just a nightmare. Sirius’ here”.   
Harry flows back with his mind to Sirius’ and his parents faces, to their bodies in Kingsley’s apartment, warm and living. It’s so weird to think about them that way but it’s reassuring.   
He relaxes against Draco’s chest and tries to find again his sleep. 

 

Harry and Andromeda gathered together at Andromeda’s house to tell Teddy about his parents return after the boy has come back from school.   
The kid looked astonished and confused. He’s always heard, from both his godfather and his grandma, about his parents’ courage and how they sacrificed their lives to build a better world for him and all other people, how they were kind and awesome.   
He’s been taught that, although his parents would have never been physically with him, they would always be by his side in his heart and they would always look after him from whenever they were. And maybe one day they would even be together again, but the late it was the better.   
So Teddy’s been okay with that, but he is only just a kid so he doesn’t understand completely the meaning of death, not in that sad and tragic way adults do, but Harry knows that eventually even him would miss them and crave for them when finding himself growing up and understanding things better and deeper; Harry knows this because he had been in the same situation when he was a teenager and even after. That was just another of plenty motives that has made Harry so deeply and madly attached to that boy. They had this bond in common and Harry’s made sure to not ever make Teddy feel outcasted or unwanted because being an orphan. Not that Teddy’s ever considered himself an orphan - probably he doesn’t even understand the meaning of that word - as Harry and Andromeda have always been the best parents for him and always gave him anything he needed.   
Except that this part has suddenly changed apparently, for both Teddy and Harry, but the latter still doesn’t know how to feel about it. And perhaps neither Teddy knows, telling from the look on his little and sweet face.  
“But you are my daddy”, Teddy says looking desperately at Harry.   
Harry exchanged a look with Andromeda and kneels before Teddy, talking to him quietly and rubbing his arm to reassure him. “I am not your daddy, Ted… I love you deeply and you know that, but I am not your real dad, you know that”.   
Teddy looks down at his sneakers and dangles a bit, not moving from the spot he is standing. Harry smiles at him trying to be more soft.   
“I don’t want to go away. I want to be with you and granny”, Teddy says whining.   
Harry sighs. “Nobody is going to take you away. You will stay with me and granny, Ted. Don’t worry about that”.   
The kid finally looks up at his godfather looking a bit calmer. “No?”   
“Of course not, sweetie. I am not giving you away, Teddy-Bear”.   
Harry leans toward Teddy to wrap him in a bones-breaking hug. Teddy grabs onto Harry’s neck like it was an anchor.   
“But aren’t you happy to meet your parents? They really want to meet you. They’ve missed you so much”, Harry asks when he pulls himself from the hug and looks steadily at his godson, ruffling his hair.   
Teddy shrugs.   
“I- I don’t know. I am. But… I don’t know”.   
Harry nods slightly and grins a bit. “Wanna go play in your room before dinner?”   
“Yes!” the kid exhales smiling happily this time.   
Harry lets Teddy go and gets up to face Andromeda.   
“Daddy?” Teddy calls before going upstairs.   
“Yes?”   
“I love you”.   
Harry grins. “I love you too, to the moon and back”.   
When Teddy disappears up the stairs, Harry turns to Andromeda who has been quiet all that time to allow Harry to explain the situation to the kid. He’s always been better at those things then her.  
“Well, it’s gonna be… tough”.   
“Yes but I am hopeful”.   
Of course Andromeda would have been hopeful, she’s just happy to have her daughter back. 

 

“Draco?” Harry whispers when finally Draco emerges from the bathroom. Harry is lying on the two-sized bed, looking at Draco still naked after the shower; he’s wearing only his boxers and his pale skin is almost sparkling under the soft light of the lamps on the bedside tables.  
“Hmm?” Draco hums searching for a shirt in the drawer.   
But Harry says nothing; he approaches his boyfriend and wraps his waist with his hands, resting his chin on Draco’s shoulder and inhaling deeply his vanilla scent from the shampoo he’s been showering with. Draco’s smell is so good, it works like a drug on Harry’s nerves, relaxing and calming him.   
Draco chuckles and stops doing what he’s been up to.  
“Would you let me find a shirt to wear for the night?” the Slytherin asks softly.   
“No”, Harry replies in a childish tone.  
“No?”  
“You can sleep shirtless. Naked, even”.   
Draco chuckles again.   
“What if I am cold?”   
“I’ll warm you”.   
Harry starts to rub Draco’s chest with his right hand, while, with the other hand, he pulls the boy towards himself and holds him fiercely. He touches his belly, his belly-button, his abdominals and his left nipple, then the other… Well, the scar where the right nipple had been once and now is missing leaving a thin red scar in its place.   
Draco has plenty of scars, especially on his back where they resemble a sort of cobweb - white and thin - and Harry knows that Draco is still uncomfortable with them, with his body. But the Gryffindor doesn’t mind his scars, he loves them even because they are what make Draco so special, they are part of him. It’s just difficult to make the blonde understand it too.   
Draco shivers under his soft touches.  
“Come to bed, babe”.   
“Just let me finish getting dressed”.   
Harry sighs but frees Draco from the embrace and returns to the bed. Draco finally finds a white shirt and joins his boyfriend under the covers.

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what do you think happened to Draco to have all those scars and a missing nipple?  
> Theories, as well as comments and kudos are highly appreciated. 
> 
> Kiss,  
> C.


	7. Chapter Seven

**Chapter Seven**

 

Ron takes James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Tonks to the parking lot behind of the building which is guarded with different protecting charms but still he checks a couple of times that there aren’t any meddlers, and then they immediately go to Harry who is waiting next to a car - a black Porsche - smoking a cigarette. Another car - a dark blue MPV - is parked in the spot next to the Porsche.  
“Are you ready?” Harry asks throwing his cigarette and vanishing with a light movement of the wand.  
“Merlin’s balls! Is that your car?!” James exhales with eyes wide open in surprise and astonishment.  
Harry grins amused and pleased. “It is. Decide if you want to come with me or Ron”.  
“I’m coming with you”, James says approaching the car.  
Lily rolls her eyes and Harry chuckles.  
Sirius, James and Lily get in Harry’s car while Remus and Tonks go with Ron.  
“I hope you went to the loo. It’s gonna be a couple of hours of trip, more or less”, Harry says before starting the engine. He leaves the parking lot and makes sure that Ron is following him.  
“But why the car? Couldn’t we take the floo or apparate??” Lily enquires when they stop on the first traffic light.  
Harry replies keeping his eyes on the road. “The floo is extremely kept under control by the Ministry and we don’t want anybody else to find out about your return. As for the Disapparition… well, my house is protected under very strong protecting charms so whoever hasn’t been there yet cannot Apparate there. Not the first time I mean. After, when I will have granted you the permission to pass through my wards you will be able to apparate”.  
“Oh”. It’s the only thing Lily manages to say.  
James and Sirius, who are sitting in the posterior seats, frown their eyebrows but say nothing about that.  
Harry breaths deeply and keeps driving with no pressure, his eyes constantly on the road and checking every turn, every move coming from the other drivers. He is nervous, he must admit it.  
Ron is still behind him. Harry knows that with a Porsche he can go very fast but with the traffic of London afternoon he doesn’t want to test his car’s speed. Plus, Ron wouldn’t be able to stay behind him.  
“How far can this car go?” James asks after a while.  
“Very far”.  
“Like a broom?”  
“I don’t know. How far can a broom go?” Harry says hiding a funny laugh behind his lips.  
James frowns not really understanding.  
“It depends on the broom you are talking about”, Harry adds. He would enjoy to tease his father but it doesn’t seem to be the right time.  
“I don’t know, probably there are better brooms now than during my times”.  
“Sure”.  
No, Harry isn’t going to brag about his broom right now. There is time.  
“Are you sure we don’t bother? I mean, is your boyfriend okay with us five staying at yours?” Lily asks in a weird shy tone.  
Harry dismisses her with a wave of his hand. “Don’t be silly, of course it’s okay and you do not bother. There is plenty of space”.  
“Can’t we go faster? Or… I don’t know, throw a charm on the car to go faster?” James asks again.  
Harry shakes his head. “No, muggles would notice it. The ministry became very strict on the magic and charms used on muggle stuff”.  
“The Ministry is strict about a lot of stuff”, Sirius says.  
“Yes, after the war they applied new laws and became more aware”.  
James sighs and flops against the backseat. How much did they miss?  
The trip lasts a couple of hours, as Harry has said, and when the car approaches a sort of forest outside the city, the three people in Harry’s Porsche look outside the window a bit puzzled; they have no clue why they are stopping in the middle of nowhere. Undoubtedly, the forest is beautiful and full of tall and green trees, but apart from that stunning piece of nature there was nothing else, not a house or human beings.  
Harry drives the car a bit forward, leading to an empty spot where there are no trees, just grey and brown dirt. Harry turns off the engine and gets out of the car where he meets with Ron who’s been following him all that time.  
The dark-haired boy puts out his wand and starts moving it, while James, Sirius, Lily, Remus and Tonks stare astonish at the house that starts to appear in front of their eyes. It is big and made of glass, only the raised floor is made of dark wood and the red roof with shingles. But they aren’t able to see inside the house through the glasses as they are darkened.  
Harry opens the car door and invites the others out. Ron follows.  
“Welcome”.  
“Wow! It’s amazing”, James exhales still looking at the glassy house like his eyes are glued to it.  
Harry grins.  
“Let’s go inside, it’s getting cold”.  
Harry approaches the house and quickly climbs the three stairs that lead to the front door. The others are following slowly, still looking around; so, the house in which Harry lives with Draco is situated in the middle of a beautiful forest and there seems to be no one else around to bother.  
Harry opens the door wide and gets in, resting the keys on the little wooden furniture next to the entrance. His guests follow and when their eyes laid on the house they are even more amazed: the flat is big and cosy, very illuminated thanks to the glassy walls set both on left and right sides, in the middle of it there are a couple of couches and sofas in front of a fireplace and above the fireplace there is a TV attached to the wall. In both corners there are staircases full of books. There is even a black piano next to the glassy wall on the left.  
Next to the living room there is a kitchen that is a bit smaller but cozy and bright as well. Everything is so clean and in order. There are no carpets on the floor, just wooden floorboards.  
Next to the threshold they can also see some stairs going up.  
“It’s amazing”, Lily whispers quietly, her eyes spinning around the entire place.  
Harry chuckles. “Yeah. I made the design. The windows are one-sided, so we can look outside but who’s outside cannot watch what’s inside”.  
“That’s smart”, Sirius comments.  
“But why in the middle of nowhere?”  
Harry shrugs. “I wanted some privacy. Besides, I like the woods. They make me feel… at peace”. He sighs while feeling his parents’ eyes upon him. “I’ll show you your rooms”.  
But before they could say anything else, they hear a meowing coming from the kitchen door and a small black kitty appears on the sight.  
“Sorry, I have to feed her first”, Harry says taking the cat in his arms.  
“You have a cat!” Tonks says.   
Harry hands out the cat to the girl who takes it in her arms like a baby and cuddles it. The kitty starts purring. Meanwhile Ron is gone saying he cannot be late for dinner as Hermione would kill him for real this time.  
“She’s Athena. Actually, she’s Draco’s. He found her few months ago and decided to keep her”, Harry explains with a grin remembering that rainy evening when Draco came home after work with a little bundle of black fur soaked in rain and said him that he had to save it. He fed her and cleaned her. Harry was reluctant at first to take in an animal, another living being - for Merlin’s sake!, they didn’t even have plants in the house as they feared they would die after their care - but seeing Draco with that small cat, smiling at her with that smile of his Harry rarely had the pleasure to see… Well, who was he to deny his boyfriend something like that? So they now own a cat.  
“She’s so beautiful” Lily whispers, stroking Athena in Tonks’s arms. The cat, apparently, enjoyed that attention very much. She’s been really earning the influence from Draco.  
Harry puts some food in Athena’s bowl in the corner of the kitchen and the cat immediately jumps from Tonks’s lap and runs to her food.  
“What about the piano over there?” Sirius asks pointing at the piano with a glance behind his back.  
“Well… That’s also Draco’s”, Harry replies this time a bit low, knowing how that would sound. The cat is Draco’s, the piano too, it appears like Draco has monopolized his home. Not that Harry minds it, that’s been exactly the purpose of having Draco with him, especially after the year Draco had at that time. He helped him a lot with the decorations, as the green blankets on the couch are saying.  
“I gave it to him for his birthday”, Harry adds to explain better, blushing a little.  
“And where is Draco now?” his mum enquires, hesitating on Draco’s name on purpose.  
“He’s still at work”.  
Draco usually comes back around half past five or even six if he has to stay more in the lab.  
“Let’s go upstairs. I’ll show you your rooms”.  
They follow Harry up the stairs to the first floor where he opens three doors in the middle of the hallway.  
“Chose whatever room you like. I left some spare clothes for you and if you need something else I can go shopping. Whatever”.  
“Thank you”, Remus says softly as if he wasn’t expecting all that kindness.  
Harrys smiles. “No problem. Get yourself comfortable, I am going to prepare dinner”.  
Harry goes downstairs quickly before anyone has the time to say anything else. As soon as he gets to the kitchen he inhales and exhales deeply, trying to calm down. He’s been doing a great effort to avoid shaking. It’s so weird having his parents, Sirius and Remus in his house, he just feels so scared and doesn’t really know how to behave. He has also been avoiding to look at them in the eyes.  
He really needs Draco right now. And a cig.  
Harry puts some potatoes to boil on the kettle and lights up a cigarette when all of a sudden he hears the front door opening with some keys; Draco is back.  
“In the kitchen, babe”, he calls standing next to the kitchen top. Draco pulls off his jacket and walks towards his boyfriend very calmly.  
“Where are the folks?” Draco asks immediately.  
“Upstairs”.  
Draco stops in front of Harry without talking, staring at the floor. His breathing is almost imperceptible. He is wearing black trousers and a white shirt that’s a bit large on him but it suits him nevertheless. Harry can say from his expression that he is rather nervous and that makes him chuckle to himself.  
“They are impatient to know you”, Harry says after a while taking a puff of smoke.  
Draco finally grins and raises his head to face Harry’s eyes. “Are they?”  
Before the other one is given the time to reply, a voice from the kitchen door interrupts them: “So, you must be Draco”.  
Draco turns around to face a very young lady with long red hair, dressed in a pair of fit jeans and a yellow sweater. He notices immediately that she has that particular sort of tenderness that Draco’s seen often also on Harry’s face. His boyfriend must have inherited more than his eyes from his mother.  
“I am”, Draco says not moving from his spot. “And you are… Miss Potter, I guess”.  
“Lily. Call me Lily. It’s a pleasure to meet you”.  
“Likewise”.   
Draco opens his mouth to add something more but suddenly something bumps against him almost breaking his breath. He can just see a sort of pinkish and heavy ball curled around his waist.  
“Cousin”, a voice says beneath his wrist. Now Draco realizes that that sort of ball is a human being. When the figure finally gets up, Draco recognizes a young girl with bubble-gum pink hair and big brown eyes, quite pretty he must admit. She is smiling to him like an old friend he hasn’t seen in quite some time.  
“Salazar’s sake! Was this an attempted murder?” Draco exhales finally getting back his voice.  
“Sorry, I am so clumsy sometimes”, the girl says like it is the most normal thing in the world, bumping like that onto stranger people.  
Harry chuckles softly behind him.  
“And who the hell are you?”  
The girl sticks her tongue towards him.  
“I’m Nymphadora Tonks. Your cousin”.  
Draco’s face all of sudden gets serious. “Oh you are Teddy’s mum”. The Slytherin says quite. Tonks looks at him a bit taken aback. She hasn’t expected that, usually people say “Andromeda’s daughter” not “Teddy’s mum”. Probably she just isn’t used to it. The girl muses about the relationship the blonde has with her son. She already knows that Harry is his adoptive father but what about Draco Malfoy? He too must have some sort of kinship with Teddy, a part from being his cousin.  
Before either of them has time to say something, they are interrupted again. Draco hasn’t even seen other people coming to the kitchen. One is a man who looks creepily like Harry, one is an older man with curly dark hair - Sirius of course, he still remembers him from the Azkaban mugshots - and the last one is his former DADA professor. He is resting with his right shoulder against the doorframe, looking at him with a gentle smile that makes Draco a bit uncomfortable, like he is being studied in some way. But Professor Lupin has always been gentle towards any student.  
Remus is the only one pondering about Draco, as he is also the only one who has been known the guy a bit longer due to his teaching time at Hogwarts. And he can say that Lucius’s spawn has indeed changed a lot, just from his look. Wearing muggle clothes and keeping his hair a bit longer and tied in a messy bun behind his neck, with a couple of loosen locks falling down around his face. He’s definitely lost a lot of that proud haughtiness that used to distinguish his pure blood being.  
“Hi, Draco”, Remus says in a calm voice.  
“Hi”, Draco says back avoiding to look at him.  
“Guys, dinner’s almost ready. You can sit at the table. Draco, could you please set the table?” Harry orders interrupting that exchange of glances.  
Their guests go to the table as they were ordered, while Draco takes his wand and twirls it, making plates and cutlery fly all around the kitchen towards the table.  
“We need to get some groceries”, Harry utters to Draco without looking at him, too concentrated on the dinner.  
“I’ll go tomorrow”, Draco replies.  
“Really?” Harry exhales with genuine surprise.  
Draco rolls his eyes. “Yes, just make me a list and I’ll buy everything”.  
“Okay”, Harry states. He’s really surprised by that initiative for a muggle thing coming from Draco, but he doesn’t want to test his luck. 

  
Dinner is really calm and peaceful and Harry starts to relax a bit. Or maybe it is just the beer that helps.  
“So, how you two guys got together? And when?” Tonks asks, clearly curious about that topic.  
Harry and Draco chuckle.  
“We got together during our last year at Hogwarts”, Harry says.  
“But yeah, we used to fight a lot”, Draco adds. “I mean... like a Gryffindor and a Slytherin would fight. We were sort of nemesis so everybody was very surprised after we got together. But our lives, the war... it changed us”.  
Harry looks at his boyfriend from the corner of his eyes, remembering that time he sliced Draco like a peach in Moaning Myrtle’s bathroom. He is still feeling guilty about that even though Draco has been telling him not to. But it was like a great part of his personality, feeling guilty about stuff, even those that weren’t his fault.  
Stupid Gryffindor feelings. Or maybe it is just about how he has grown up and raised.  
“We decided for a truce and got to know us better and... well, it’s been five years”.  
The others, looking at them from the opposite side of the table, smile softly. It is so tangible how much the two guys love each other.  
“Can I ask you something?” The question comes from Sirius who is looking at Draco sternly.  
Draco nods expecting something that would fill him with unease.  
“What about your parents?”  
Silence takes over their table. Draco looks down and sighs.  
“Well... Father died in Azkaban a couple of years ago. My mum was released and moved to the States. I haven’t heard from her since... Right after the war”.  
Narcissa has never taken the Dark Mark so she wasn’t accused of being a Death Eater. Also, Harry testified on her and Draco’s behalf. He couldn’t do anything for Lucius, but with Narcissa he was lucky. At first, he thought he had been lucky with Draco too but then...  
“Your dad was put in Azkaban for being...”, James says with hesitation.  
“A Death Eater, yeah”, Draco ends his sentence.  
James smiles at him and plops against the seat back. He remembered Lucius from school where he used to be an awful prick just because he was a pureblood, so he is happy now that his son did not take his steps.  
“Glad you haven’t followed his path”.  
Draco’s face crumples but he tries to put himself together. James couldn’t be more wrong, he thinks, but Harry squeezes his hand under the table and looks at him with tensed lips trying to communicate with his eyes. Draco knows he is telling him that he doesn’t have to say anything, he’s not obliged to tell them. But that just seems so wrong.  
He scratches his left forearm where the Dark Mark is still inking his white skin under the long sleeve. He wonders what those people, Harry’s family, would think about him if they knew the truth. Eventually they will know about it, about who he was. He is not planning on hiding.  
“I’m sorry to hear about your father”, Remus says softly, looking at the Slytherin intensely.  
Draco shrugs feeling anxious and staring at his plate; he could feel Harry’s worried gaze upon him.There is too much else to say but it is just too early to talk now.  
“Nevermind. Haven’t been a great fan of him”, Draco replies with a bitter grin on his lips, finally lifting up his head to face the faces that have only nice expression for him.  
Only Remus squints his eyes like he is trying to study the boy. He immediately realizes that there is something wrong, or maybe something different, that is sure. He remembers Draco being very fond of his dad and always bringing him up every-time something wouldn’t suit him. Is it possible that that had always been just an act and that the real Draco is showing up right now in front of him.   
“And what do you do now?” Sirius asks.  
“I’m working at St. Mungo”.  
“Oh, so you’re a Healer”, Lily utters excitedly.  
“Kinda. I’m more into research. You know... finding out new potions that can fix magical diseases and curses. But yeah, I work a lot with Healers”.  
“That’s nice”.  
Draco nods biting his lower lip. If truth must be said, he would have really liked being a real Healer, dealing with patients and fixing their problems, running through the emergency yard and curing people after terrible accidents. But, as his chief made him clear when he asked to apply for that exam, patients unlikely would allow to be looked after by a Death Eater, even though he had faced his sentence. Draco cried his eyes out that night, curled up against Harry’s chest but he had to admit that it was true. It’d been hard having to give up to something that he wanted so much but eventually he turned to the research branch of Magic Medicine. And he likes it, it’s not the same, but he likes it.  
It’s just unfair how his life is still fucking up with him.  
The conversation turns to other topics and this time it’s Harry who answers the questions, mostly about Ron and Hermione and his job, so Draco is allowed to shut up and pretending to listen to the conversation. He starts to doze off at a certain point.  
“You tired, babe? Wanna go to bed?” He hears Harry’s voice asking him quitetly. The Gryffindor is looking at him with an amused smile.  
Draco yawns. “I’m fine. I’ll help you clean”.  
“Go to bed. I can manage”.  
Harry takes out his wand and gathers all the plates and cutleries to the sink, and casts a Scourgify to make them clean themselves.  
“Sorry, guys, we haven’t been thinking that you might be tired”, Lily says.  
Harry smiles to her. Yes, he is pretty tired indeed but he is also enjoying the company - how could he not - and doesn’t really want the day to go off. He still fears that it might be all a dream and that the next day they would disappear.  
“Don’t worry. Whenever you want to sleep, just go upstairs. Or watch television, whatever”.  
“I’ve been dead for too long to be tired now”, James says trying to be funny in his statement but only after his words have left his mouth he realizes that it has come out a bit awkward.  
He looks at Harry who is a bit taken aback.  
“Yeah, I guess so”, the boy says.  
His father can’t know how that sentence has stricken him too. He knows the feeling.

 

***

 

I suck at descriptions so probably you haven't understood how Harry and Draco's house looks. I wanted it to be like the one Derek made for Meredith in Grey's Anatomy so I'll put some pictures [here](https://im5.freeforumzone.it/up/59/93/1529666715.jpeg), [here](https://im5.freeforumzone.it/up/59/92/791827344.jpg) and [here](https://im5.freeforumzone.it/up/59/94/953792346.jpg) . 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for uploading so late but as I still have a couple of exams to do I am studying every day all day. And I am really really tired.  
> Hope I'll be able to update next week too. 
> 
> So, did you enjoy this chapter? There are still a lot of things to say, as Draco and Harry both muse about.  
> Kudos and comments are welcome and, as usual, let me know if there are any mistakes here (and I thinks there are plenty in this chapter).


	8. Chapter Eight

**Chapter Eight**

 

James, Lily, Sirius, Remus and Tonks get up the next day and go down to the kitchen where they find Draco standing at the table sipping his mug of coffee and reading some papers.   
“Good morning”, Lily greets with a soft smile.   
Draco jumps up a bit but then greets back.   
“Did you sleep well?”   
“Sure”, Tonks says plopping down on a chair.   
“There’s some coffee over there”, Draco says pointing to the burner. “Just serve yourself if you want some breakfast. Be as in your home”.  
“Thank you”, James says going to serve himself some coffee.  
“Harry’s not here?” Sirius asks.  
Draco stands up and piles his papers together. “No, he’s at work. But he’ll be here for lunch”.  
“Oh, okay”.  
“And you stayed here for us or you work from home?” Lily asks with a tone of concern in her voice.   
Draco grins. “I can work from home when I need to”.  
Indeed it isn’t a lie, some time, when he doesn’t have to care after the potions he and his colleague have been preparing he can stay at home and read some medical research and information.  
“I have to go for groceries. Do you need something?” He asks after a while having collected all his papers.  
“Don’t you have an house elf?” James asks. “I mean, how can you keep clean this place?”  
“We had Kreacher but he died a couple of years ago. We don’t really use house elves but sometimes, if it’s urgent, we call Winky. She works at Hogwarts usually but Harry befriended her so she’s happy to help”.  
“Oh”.   
His guests don’t really know how to take that piece of information as it is pretty unusual. Sirius and James are the only pure bloods in that group and they know how it works with house elves - they aren’t usually friends with their masters - but they never really cared about pure bloods’ traditions.  
“So, do you need anything?” Draco asks again.  
“No, thank you”, comes the quite answer.  
“Okay, a I’ll be back soon. Just stay here”.  
Draco leaves the kitchen quickly and goes upstairs to rest his papers. Then he comes downstairs again and puts on his jacket before crossing the exit.

 

Draco wanders around the the supermarket - a muggle one as he usually doesn’t go too much in the wizard world if not strictly necessary - trying to get all the groceries Harry wrote on the list. He’s not very fond of supermarkets and grocery shopping, but Harry is dealing with an overwhelming situation so he wants to try his best to be helpful and supportive. As Harry did when Draco was facing a really tough moment some years ago.   
He walked in that place half an hour ago and has managed to find only Harry’s favorite beer and Teddy’s cornflakes. Draco sighs heavily and proceeds further among those shelves and other people who had his same idea to go shopping that morning. 

 

_When Draco found himself dealing with Harry again it was on a cloudy day in September; school had started only three weeks previous and he was already tired and fed up. It was a Saturday so most of the Castle went to Hogsmeade to enjoy themselves and have some fun but he decided to stay at Hogwarts preferring to remain on his own. He started to spend a lot of time by himself lately, not that it should be a surprise: most people - in the Castle and outside - would look at him with despised glance and other would just avoid him like he had plague. Harry might had saved him from Azkaban but not from people’s opinion that still considered him a Death Eater, like his father.  
_ _The Slytherins… well, they hadn’t really had friends in his House ever, as Slytherins are that kind of people who would befriend someone only if there was a purpose, something they could use for one’s behalf and so had always been also Draco’s opinion about friendship as well. There were Blaise and Astoria, sure, but they had never been that kind of friends who would share secrets and problems. And Goyle was rotting in Azkaban. Not that Draco would ever talk about his feelings to Greg.  
_ _So, that particular Saturday, Draco was wandering around Hogwarts, tired of dealing with people and trying to find a spot where he could be by himself. He approached the Boathouse and decided that that could be a good place to hide for a bit. It was isolated and empty. He stayed there, sitting on the grass and huddling himself in the cloak. He should have definitely put his scarf on. It was already starting to be cold._  
It was only after few moments that he heard weird noises in the Boathouse; he listened carefully and then decided to intervene. It was like someone was panting or, even worse, struggling for air.   
_And there he stood, among the boats, Harry Potter, hands on the humid wall of the Boathouse, arms stretched and body slightly bended. His breath was irregular and sweat was covering his forehead.  
_ _The Chosen One, the Saviour, The-Boy-Who-Defeated-The-Evil-Himself was having a panic attack; Draco could definitely recognize the symptoms after having a couple of them before his trial.  
_ _“Breath, Potter, just breath”. Draco didn’t even realize when he sprinted towards the dark-haired man and put his hands on his shoulders to try to sooth him. Harry didn’t even bother to kick him away. Well, a panic attack doesn’t really allow you to realize what is happening around you.  
_ _He needed help and Draco was there.  
_ _“Focus on my breath. Don’t let the panic conquer you. You can do it, you are strong”.  
_ _It didn’t take long actually, maybe because Harry was really strong indeed or maybe because those words helped him. When he started breathing normally, Draco moved away from him a little and stared into his face.  
_ _Harry turned to Draco and startled a bit.  
_ _“Malfoy”.  
_ _Draco lifted his lips in a little grin. “There you go, Potter. You are fine”.  
_ _“What are you doing here?” Harry’s voice wasn’t particularly mean but it wasn’t kind either.  
_ _“I was wandering around when I heard you having a panic attack. Didn’t think it would be wise letting you die”.  
_ _Harry blinked a couple of times like he’s been confused and run a hand through his messy hair. “A panic attack”, he repeated.  
_ _“Yes, Potter, that’s what you had. I guess it was the first time”.  
_ _Harry didn’t answer that but he looked down at the floor like he didn’t want to let the real answer escape from his mouth.  
_ _“Just, Malfoy…”, he started struggling with his own words. “Don’t say anything about this. To anyone”.  
_ _“Of course not”.  
_ _And then Harry vanished, running away like a thief. Draco stood there in disbelief, thinking about those last words; he could bet that neither Ron nor Hermione knew anything about their best friend’s panic attacks, and with all probability, they didn’t even know anything about the reason behind Harry’s sad, tormented, desperate eyes._

 

On their own, the “Resurrected” are walking up and down Harry and Draco’s home, looking and observing some things they didn’t catch the other day.   
Sirius is looking at the pictures on the fireplace and each one is a portrait of his godson, with Teddy, with Ron, both with their Auror uniforms, and with Draco. His favorite one is a little picture taken on a beach and showing Harry holding Draco in his arms; Harry is standing behind Draco who is leaning forward like he is trying to run away from the hug, but Harry’s strong grip is holding him tight. Neither of them is looking at the camera, the photo has been taken from the side and both guys’ faces are half hidden behind their hair. But they are smiling so genuinely, full of joy and love.   
Probably they didn’t even know they’d been photographed in that moment. That picture is the only one which isn’t moving so it must’ve been taken with a muggle camera.   
Sirius finds himself smiling slightly.   
Lily moves behind him and goes out on the balcony where James is standing, his elbows placed on the railing, his face resting on his hands and his hazel eyes staring into the woods surrounding the house.   
“Hey, dreamy”, Lily calls him and James turns around.   
“What’s wrong?”   
Damn! Lily always knows when he feels under the wether.   
“This place is beautiful, isn’t it?” he says when Lily comes up beside him.   
“It is”.   
“And our son is beautiful. Draco too. Their house is amazing and also their lives I guess”.   
“What’s your point, Jamie?” Lily asks after a moment of silence. Her voice is gentle but firm.   
“I mean… I’m so happy he managed to live his life and find love even without us. He defeated Voldemort, for fuck’s sake, the most evil and cruel man alive”.   
Lily rests a reassuring hand on his shoulder and the man breaths deeply and closes his eyes for a bit.   
“We were dead for twenty-three years, Lily, we missed so much”.   
“I know, love, but we are here now and we will make up all that time we missed out. Don’t worry”.   
James stretches out his arms to reach his wife and pull her into a tight hug.   
“He must’ve been scared as hell”, he whispers to her ear.   
“Of course he was. But now he is safe and… and he is happy”. Lily tries really hard to believe to her words.   
They stay like that for a couple of minutes, James inhaling the soft flowery smell of Lily’s hair, and Lily squeezing James as hard as her arms allow her just to make him feel that she is by his side.   
“You are still dying for that hug, aren’t you?”   
“I am”.   
That’s right, James still didn’t find the courage to ask his son for that bloody hug.

 

When Draco comes home, Lily offers to make lunch.   
“Are you sure?” he asks.   
“Of course I am, dear. It’s the least I can do. Plus, James’ll help me”.   
James rolls his eyes but doesn’t complain; he obeys and goes to the stoves. The kitchen is full of tasty smell when Harry comes home, too.   
“How was at work?” Draco asks.   
“Boring”, Harry replies, throwing himself on the couch not even bothering to get out from his Auror robes and boots. He rests his head against the setback and closes his eyes.   
“So boring that you had to cut your arm?” Draco asks, glancing intensely at a cut on Harry’s top right arm. The black tight jumper is ripped in that spot showing some clotted blood.   
Harry follows his boyfriend’s eyes and seems to remember that cut only right than. “Just a hex Lisa threw at me when we were dueling. Nothing serious”.   
“Did you clean it?”   
Draco sighs heavily and looks at Harry sternly when the dark-haired man makes a face that makes him understand that he didn’t clean the injury.   
“Take off your shirt”, the Slytherin orders and goes to the stairs. “Seriously, Potter, you are going to be the dead of me”, he says while climbing up.   
Harry chuckles but obeys immediately and frees his torso from the jumper. There is a huge tattoo of a dragon covering his entire back, a butterfly on his left ribcage and also a golden snitch on his chest. He pretty decorated his entire body. Tonks throws him a quick glance while he is distracted looking at his mum reproaching his dad in the kitchen. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wanted to add also Tonks and Remus's encounter with Teddy and also another flashback in this chapter but then it would've been too long and too messy so I am leaving it for the next time.   
> Hope it'll be soon.   
> Let me know what do you think about this one. Kudos, comments and reviews are always welcome. 
> 
> Bye,   
> C.


	9. Chpapter Nine

**Chapter Nine**

 

“What are you thinking about?” Tonks asks when she approaches for her husband and hugs him from behind, pressing her nose against his broad back as he is much taller and she can’t reach his neck. They are standing in the middle of Teddy’s room at Harry’s. Apparently, the child is so lucky and so loved that he has two rooms, one at Andromeda’s and one here, at his godfather’s. The room is the typical room of a six-year-old: a single sized bed, a bedside table with a lamp with constellation design on it, and a lot of toys - mostly muggles - and stuffed animals of all sorts - lions, bears, owls, and also a wolf, a deer and a black dog sitting next to each other. Remus couldn’t help but smile thinking that Harry should’ve done that on purpose. 

There are also some shelves full of children books, muggle fairytales and The Tales of Beedle the Bard.

“I don’t know, everything’s so weird”. 

“Yes, it is”. 

“And… Draco’s really changed, Dora”, Remus says turning to face his wife and resting his hands on her waist. 

“Why you’re saying that like it is absurd?” 

“Because, if you think, it is a bit. I remember Harry being so angry at Draco, so convinced he was a Death Eater. And now they are so in love and happy together”. 

Tonks shrugs. “People change, Remmie. Opinions change”. 

Remus sighs slowly. Yeah, maybe he is the one who should be a bit open about that. 

“Besides, it’s a bit awkward, you know? Being here safe and sound after six years. We missed a lot of things. It’s a completely different world. What will happen to us now?” 

Tonks chuckles and moves behind a bit, grabbing her husband by the shoulders as she wants to get him back to reality. “Ehi, stop you! Stop worrying. I don’t know what will happen to us and I don’t even know if we’ll adjust to this world eventually, but I don’t want to think about it now, otherwise I’ll go mental. I just want to meet my son today and that’s the only thing I care about right now”. 

Remus relaxes and lowers his gaze. Maybe Dora is right, maybe he should stop being so obsessed with bad things and stay more positive like his wife. 

He pulls her into another hug and this time she rest her cheek on his chest.

“Yes, you’r right. Let’s think about Teddy”. 

 

Harry goes to take Teddy from school and brings him home. When in the car, he asks the kid if he is ready to meet his parents and the kid says he is, more than ready. Harry chuckles and starts the engine. He is the most nervous one and he doesn’t know why; probably because he recalls how he was nervous when Ron and Hermione told him that his parents came back and that he could meet them. But Ted is just a kid and kids don’t see things as adults do.   
Probably, for Teddy, it is just like meeting some random people. Maybe he would understand the importance of this event once he would grow up. 

Teddy’s hair switches from plain blonde to a striking blue color when Harry opens the door of his home; in the muggle school he has to act like a normal kid, but he likes keeping his hair in improbable colors, just like his mother.   
Remus and Tonks are waiting in the living room, with Andromeda. Sirius, James and Lily are in the kitchen nearby, close enough to watch the scene but not too much to interfere with that awfully private moment. 

“Hey, sweetie, why are you so shy suddenly?” Harry asks when they come in the living room and Teddy is hiding behind his legs, looking at Remus and Tonks like they were sort of beautiful but terrifying creatures.   
On their part, Remus and Tonks stare at their child in awe, eyes wide open and not really sure how they should act or what to say. Everybody is waiting for the other one to take the first move. Harry is staring at Teddy, gripping his tiny hand, while Andromeda is by the threshold smiling and trying hard to hold the tears.   
Finally, Tonks takes the first step, hunkering down and stretching her arms towards the kid. 

“Hey, you like that color? Look, I can do that too”, she says with her voice sweet and soft and soon her hair color changes from bubble-gum pink to that striking blue color same as Teddy’s.   
The kid immediately grins and runs towards her, already forgetting Harry’s safe legs. Of course, he’s never seen another Metamorphomagus like him and he is happy now to be able to share his ability with someone else.   
“Wanna show me some of your toys?” Dora asks her kid pointing to some toys in the living room and gets up holding Teddy’s hand to follow him on the carpet in front of the telly. She stretches a hand towards Remus and he grabs it automatically, not really sure how he feels. Ecstatic and terrified perhaps; why it seems so easy for his wife but for him it’s so… difficult and scary? Perhaps he is not made to be a dad, maybe all of that is wrong. He is so old and so poor and so beaten out.   
But Teddy’s smile is the most beautiful thing he’s ever seen and his simplicity and his innocence make him forget everything else, every doubt and every fear. 

Harry breaths deeply and heads towards the kitchen. Andromeda is there to check the situation but everything seems to be okay. He is absorbed in a kind of bittersweet feeling and doesn’t really know why, or doesn’t want to say.   
“Hey”, Lily greets him with a soft smile. “Are you okay?” she asks probably sensing something weird from his face.   
“Yeah, just a bit tired”, Harry replies turning to the sink and pouring himself some coffee, just to not have to face Sirius who is gazing at him with a steady and with scrutiny.   
“That kid is really beautiful”, he hears James say next to him. Drinking from his mug, Harry turns towards the living room to look at Teddy playing with his… parents.   
“Yeah, he is”. 

He should be so happy for Teddy not being an orphan anymore and getting to know his parents so why does he feel so… heartbroken? 

 

When Draco comes home, Teddy notices him immediately and gets up to run happily towards him.   
“Deedee!” he screams running to him with his short legs.   
Draco crouches down to squeeze him in a tight hug and lay him a kiss onto his cheek. “Hey, Teddy Bear” Draco greets him then and gets up still holding the child in his arms. Teddy wraps his legs around his waist. “Where did you leave Harry?” He asks softly while cradling him. The other people standing in the room are looking at that scene almost shocked, but undoubtedly touched. If they had any questions about Draco’s relationship or feelings towards Teddy, well, that’s their answer.   
“He’s out there smoking his bad bad cigarettes”, the child says pointing to the balcony of the living room.   
Draco puts him down and goes to the balcony greeting the other with a grin.   
He opens the door slowly and immediately sees Harry’s back bent over. His boyfriend is resting against the balustrade with his elbows and is smoking a cigarette. Draco notices a couple of butts smashed in the ashtray.   
“Hey”, he greets him softly. Harry turns around and grins. His hair are messier than usual and the strains are even more noticeable.   
“Hi”.   
Draco walks over the few steps that are separating them and immediately rests his hand on Harry’s hips. Harry reaches out to throw his cigarette so his armas are free to hug his boyfriend.   
“How was your day?” he asks then.   
“Better then yours”, the Slytherin replies.   
Harry shows him a bittersweet smile but doesn’t say anything. He just rests his head against Draco’s shoulder while Draco rocks him almost imperceptibly.   
“What’s wrong, babe?” he asks him with soft and low voice.   
Harry sighs. “I was thinking about - doing therapy again”, he says.   
Draco freezes and tightens more his grip on Harry’s waist. Harry lifts up his head to look at Draco’s eyes. His gaze is worried now. “Why? What is going on?”   
“Nothing, it’s just -“.   
“Harry?”   
“It’s too much for me. My parents and Sirius coming back…”. Harry closes his eyes just for an instant like he’s trying to find the right words to say what he is feeling. “I don’t know. I’m scared I think. They’re here and I have - a lot to tell them. But I don’t have the courage. I’m afraid that they disappear suddenly, I… I don’t know, Draco, I feel that what I have been building up could shutter in pieces again and I don’t want that to happen”.   
Draco is nodding at him comprehensively. He can’t blame him, it would be weirder for Harry to be okay with all of that. The balance he has found sometimes staggers.  
“Of course, I understand, love. Don’t worry. Do what you have to do”.   
Harry smiles to him without looking away. Draco is always so understanding and patient. He doesn’t judge him and never pushes him to say more. “Thanks”.   
“Just try not to overthink too much that head of yours. And come to me if you need anything”.   
Harry nods and bits his lower lip, lowering his gaze like he is embarrassed all of a sudden. Draco kisses him on his forehead, right on the light bolt scar.

 

Dinner time is one of the most familiar and comfortable ones. Harry prepares food with the help of Lily and James, and all of them share together a bottle of wine and talk chitter chatter. They share the most amusing stories, Harry tells about his adventures at work, about the warlocks and witches they captured, about what Ron, Hermione and him have done in these past years - just the light and fun stuff, maybe some hungover and some quidditch match they assisted. Draco gives some more details about his job, about the new potions they’ve been brewing and Andromeda tells about Teddy and his friends at school.   
Teddy is busy with his crayons on the table next to them and after dinner he goes on with his drawing and when he finishes, a female figure with bubble-gum pink hair and a male figure with dark blonde hair and a with button-down shirt are waving on the withe paper with a tiny little figure with blue hair, in the middle of a lawn. 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!! Sorry for disappearing for over a month. I'm terrible, I know, but I've been on holidays, then started to study for the finals and busy with a lot of other stuff.   
> Plus, I really didn't know how to write properly about the encounter between Teddy and his parents so I've been postponing. Still, I am not really satisfied but I prefer to live that to you, my darling readers. 
> 
> Tell me what you think about this chapter and we'll see... well, I don't really know honestly, 'cause I also have some other fanfics to write on the Italian page, but I'll try not to make you wait so long again. Hope you had a great summer too. 
> 
> Kiss,  
> C.


	10. Chapter Ten

**Chapter Ten**

 

Draco outstretches his arm in order to reach something from the pantry and in doing so his shirt lifts up showing his tattoo in runic numbers, engraved in his skin at the bottom of his back. He got it few years ago when he was sent to Azkaban. It is like a scar, still not perfectly healed and sometimes it itches, like a dreadful and painful reminder of his past.   
But the worst part of it is that his guests are there to witness it. Draco hurries to hide it as fast as he can but Sirius has already spot it.   
“Is that a tattoo from Azkaban?” he asks puzzled. Of course he would know, he was an Auror but above all he’d been in Azkaban too.   
Draco looks down, suddenly interested in his shoe-laces.   
“What?” asks James eating pop corns on the couch. He barely turns around to look at them and Draco hopes that the attention would drop. But no, Remus and Lily are highly suspicious now.   
Draco sighs.   
“That tattoo on your back. I know where it comes from”.   
Why does Sirius sound so angry and accusing? He’s been a guest in that house for weeks now and he…   
_Nevermind_ , thinks Draco.   
“Well, I guess there’s no point in hiding it now”, the Slyterin says and lifts his shirt again, this time on purpose.   
Five pair of eyes look at it, well, stare at it.   
Remus is the most skeptical, while James appears just to be confused or not really interested. It is difficult to tell what kind of emotion James feels.   
“But… why? Have you been to Azkaban?” Remus enquires.   
Draco pauses a little, holding his breath. It’s Harry’s family, they have to know.   
“Yeah. Because of this”.   
And then he lifts the sleeve of his left arm revealing the Dark Mark on his forearm, still clear and with the same dreadful look it once held. His guests gasp.   
Sirius’ lips are a thick line, he is tense; Lily appears to be confused like she can’t believe it and is expecting someone to say that it was only a joke. James stopped eating his pop corn and now is fully aware of the situation. Only Remus looks at him with pity and some kind of understanding. Tonks… he won’t think about Tonks’s expression.   
“Maybe… Maybe we could talk about it”, Draco says hesitantly.   
“Yeah. We should definitely talk about it”, Sirius agrees harshly.   
Draco sits on the armchair and is followed by the others on the sofas. Only Lily sits on the floor, next to her husband’s feet, to face Draco better. Draco swallows nervously and takes some time to gather all the words he would need. He forbids himself to look at Sirius.  
“You know how my family was”, he starts, his voice rower than he likes.  
The others simply nod.  
“So, my dad was on Voldemort’s side when he came back and... well, I followed of course”.  
“You did not try to... I don’t know, distance yourself from him?” James asks.  
Draco shrugs. “I was a jerk when I was younger, I must admit it. There was a time when I believed his ideology and all that pureblood bullshit”. Draco can sense his audience holding their breath like they are listening an exciting story and are expecting a plot twist. It could be an exciting story from a certain point of view but it was his story and it was horrible and excruciating. “Harry and I didn’t agree during our time in Hogwarts, we quarreled a lot. He was on the... Good side, let’s say, and I... well, I was a Death Eater. I didn’t really understand what it meant until I got in and then it was too late. One thing is believing to some craps of an extremist lunatic, but it is completely different thing to go and fight a war for a man who didn’t even bother to stand on the front line. He would just sacrifice other people. And once you are in there is no comeback. He asked me to kill Dumbledore in my sixth year otherwise he would kill my mum and dad. He threatens people. He kills them. I don’t even remember how many times Greyback threatened to kill me or bite me or my Aunt Bellatrix to crucio me.  
“So, you were forced to join the Death Eaters”, Remus says.   
_Always seeing the good in other people_ , Draco thinks.   
He shrugs and swallows. He’s not sure how to carry on, but he’s started and now he must finish it. If he’s been thinking that that part of his life would’ve never come out again he was hugely mistaken.   
“Well, when the war got real… I mean, really real, that was when I understood. I didn’t want to kill or torture. I didn’t really care. But, it was the Death Eaters or my death. And my parents’ death. My mother’s death”.  
Draco has come to the realization, in the last few years, that he didn’t really care about his father.It was because of him that he ended in a bad situation in first place, his beliefs and his prejudices. But he cared about his mother. A lot.  
“Yeah, it’s wicked”, says James, more to himself than to Draco. His hazel eyes are fixed on an invisible spot in front of him.  
“So you ended in Azkaban after the war”. Sirius’s voice is calmer and gentler as he speaks now.   
“Not right after. Harry spoke on my behalf at the hearing. They decided that I could be spared with probation. So I went back to Hogwarts. But people demanded justice and wanted all the Death Eaters to be sentenced for the death of their friends and families. So the Ministry was cornered. They sent my to Azkaban for a year”.   
“And you were okay with that?” asks Lily.  
“What else could I do? I deserved it. I did some bad stuff, I took the mark. So, yes… I went there”.   
“And what about Harry?”   
“He and I were already together by then. He was furious”. Draco finds himself smiling while thinking about the rage that got to Harry when he found out about Draco’s sentence and the shenanigans he put to try to prove his innocence. But neither the Savior could do anything to help him.  
“Are you okay now?” The question comes from Tonks.  
Draco chuckles at the absurdity of that question: he tells them about his past as a Death Eater and about being sent to Azkaban and all she asks in the end is if he’s okay. He doesn’t know though. Recalling that story has been painful. Hard. Some tears falls down his cheeks but he wipes them quickly. He doesn’t want their pity or their anger or whatever. Nor he wants them to hug him. He doesn’t want to tell them all about Azkaban, the tortures he suffered in there, the bad memories caused by the Dementors and the aftermath, the consequences of that all, the PTSD, his suicide attempt and how putting his life in order again was even harder than being in Azkaban. He thought he would never be happy again. He doesn’t want that.  
All he wants is Harry.  
And finally his wishes are satisfied. Harry comes in, slowly, like he’s trying to be very cautious.  
“Draco?” he calls.   
Draco stands up and reaches for him.   
“How… How long have you been there?”  
“Enough”. Harry’s eyes go from Draco to his parents and Sirius and Remus.  
“You didn’t have to tell them”.  
“They had to know”.   
Harry cups Draco’s face with his big and firm hand and wipes carefully the remaining tears there. He takes a deep breath. “It’s okay. Go to our room. To rest. Okay? I’ll be there in a minute”. His voice is so sweet and understanding that he can’t but melt.   
Draco smiles a bit and nods, leaving the room. He knows that Harry just wants a moment alone with his family.  
“You didn’t want us to know all of that?” James asks.   
Harry looks at him fiercely. He’s ready to fight. Even with his dad if he has to. If he has to defend and support Draco.   
“It wasn’t my choice. It’s Draco’s story. He had to decide to tell it or not”.  
A tense silence falls onto the living room. When he notices that no one is going to speak, Harry speaks up again.   
“Listen… I know it’s messed up. My whole history with Draco was messed up. But… I love him. He’s my family right now and… He’s been by my side when I needed him. So, whatever you are going to say, or think, I don’t care. Shit happened during that bloody war and everybody did pretty bad stuff. But Draco is a victim as well as all of us in this room are”.   
It takes few moments, but eventually James opens up in a huge grin. “Oh Merlin! I’m so proud of you. Of course you love him. And of course he is a victim. It’s not his fault. Draco is not his father”.  
Harry shifts his gaze towards Sirius and sees him nod in agreement, almost imperceptibly. Those words stuck in his heart like a warm blanket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here I am, appearing like a ghost.   
> Sorry for ditching you so badly but my life has gone pretty crazy these last months, among exams, family stuff, travels and let's say, mental health. I also got a very bad writer block. 
> 
> I am also sorry to come back with this short chapter but I think it's pretty dense. It's a sort of middle point, I wanted so badly to tell Draco's story. I think I'll put some flashbacks in the next chapters, about his year in Azkaban and during Hogwarts.   
> I don't quite know when I will post again - hope it won't be months again (again, sorry) - but I'll try my best. 
> 
> Let me know what you think and - as usual - warn me it there is some language mistake. I am not native English speaker : )
> 
> Last but not least, I have a tumblr account (it's pretty recent and I rarely post on it but I wouldn't mind some more followers. Also, if you want, recommend me there or here some fanfiction to read. I like drarry, wolfstar and in this last period I really wish to read a very well written story about James and Lily coming back to life - or something similar - and meeting Harry. Because that poor guy needs a family). https://www.tumblr.com/blog/arequipe1994 here's the link to my Tumblr.

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, my first long work on this account. Hope you will enjoy the story as I enjoyed writing it.  
> I'll try my every best to post once a week but since I have exams to do I am not quite sure; yes, I know it's not a good idea to start publishing a story when being so busy, but this story helps me to distract myself from books and not going crazy.  
> I also have another account on the Italian website of Fanfictions, this is my account https://efpfanfic.net/viewuser.php?uid=1077338 if anyone of you knows Italian or is learning it and would like to improve it by reading my fanfictions there.
> 
> I only ask from you one favor: as English is not my mother tongue, but I am still learning it and use this way to improve, I ask if you can tell me when there is a grammar mistake or anything. Tell me if there are parts that aren't understandable please and I'll correct them.
> 
> Anyway, kudos and comments will be really appreciated : )  
> Have a nice Sunday everybody!!  
> Cactus.


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